Red - The Road To Champion
by Spironax
Summary: Red, 17 years old, is about to start his journey across Kanto with his only pokemon: a Charmander he saved on a rescue mission with Professor Oak during Cinnibar Island's Volcanic Eruption Crisis. His plans of traveling Kanto with his only friend, Serena, are shattered as Serena is forced to move to Kalos. Alone, save Charmander, Red departs on the road to Indigo Champion.
1. Tales of the Past

**Chapter 1: Tales of the Past**

 **A/N: So…. I guess I've revamped the first chapter… Enjoy… I honestly don't know what to say right now, not in that shocked like oh my god what do I say now that I've achieved this thing blah blah blah way, I'm just generally stumped. I'm literally furrowing my brow as I write this. Now sections of it may be changed, or unchanged, and I honestly don't know how much/little of it I intend to change as I type. I guess maybe it's just to strip away some of the crude aspects, as well as other thing you. I'll look over Chapter 2 and see if I want to edit it soon. I may. Chapter 3 is literally fresh off the press and I'm not editing it. Enjoy. Spironax**

* * *

Two years before present day…

Red caught the ball as his teammates circled around him, the four guarding him like a pack guards their leader, which he was, as he dribbled the ball slowly, taking his sweet time to drag on the game as for the hundredth time, their guard didn't let the opposing team in. He walked forward as the opposition made numerous attempts for the ball, lazily reaching the three point line and shooting, his team dissipating the moment the ball was in the air in case there was a rebound. There wasn't.

Red smiled as the ball went in, the buzzer going moments after, signifying that they had won the game, 74-40. His team rushed towards him, picking their captain up and carrying him to the trophy for the season. Red grimaced for a moment as he saw half the girls in the school screaming and trying to get to the team. He hated it when they all did that. But it looked like the coach didn't care, and truly he didn't. He only cared that they let the team practice and play without tearing them limb from limb between each other. It was going to be hard trying to get out.

* * *

The next morning…

Red lowered his cap over his jet black hair and walked towards the massive school building, his laptop in the satchel by his side. He looked up at the red and gold banners hanging from between the post on the way to the school, a cylindrical stone platform with a huge piece of glass and machinery in it between each post. He looked at the banner hanging from the school entrance at the end of the cobblestone path, bearing the words, 'Winchester Scythers, Undisputed Champions 3 Years Running!'

Red lowered his cap to darken the things he could see as the holographs came into view even from where he was standing. In each of the stone cylinders, which were each about as midway between his waist and his knee, and wide enough to stand on comfortably, was a large lens making up most of the top. The red and gold hologram of each player of any team which won was displayed on it until the next game. His team had been there since the start of the season. At the end of the stone path was a set of stairs, leading up to the massive doors, each about ten feet tall. In front of them was the last stone pedestal, for the captain.

Red sighed as he walked up to his image, staring through it before walking into the school as every head turned towards him. For crying out loud his image was fixed in front of the school doors every day for every win in the last two years since he had enrolled, which meant twelve weeks a year, and if you added the winter break where they didn't bother to shut the projectors, it was sixteen weeks.

"LAWSON! LAWSON! LAWSON! LAWSON!" every person in the school started chanting as he lowered his head.

Lowering his head was the only way to avoid the stares of the entire school, but it also left him susceptible to being snuck up on. He walked quickly to his locker, turning his back to the school as his neighbor, one of his teammates, offered him the courtesy of keeping an eye out for him.

"How about that game last night Red? Best use of the guard we've had this season I'll say! Forty minutes, seventy four points!" He began. He was a tall, broad shouldered boy by the name of Brecken. His eyes were mismatched, one blue the other gray, and his hands massive. His skin was tanned from practicing in his driveway without skipping a single day.

"You know. There are people who say you don't play for the game the same way the rest of the team does. But let these naysayers fall face-first in their own bile! They don't know you like we do. If you didn't love the game more than any of us, you wouldn't waste that tactical brain of yours on it. Well… See ya, I've got a literature seminar in the auditorium." And with that Brecken lumbered off, knowing Red had his face to the school now.

Red nodded vaguely in his direction and set off for his own class, his head swimming. Brecken was an odd person. Strong as a smith, and built like one, and having built things like grandfather clocks in wood work with ease, Red wouldn't put it past him to know how to hammer away at a blob of molten iron and make a sword out of it. He was an average student in every subject, except literature, where he exceled in every which way, but amongst the students he was known for his easy going, sunny personality. He was probably the most likeable person in the building.

Red looked up to find his path blocked by a girl, three more in his peripheral vision. Standing in front of him was Alicia Varus, the captain of the cheer squad, girls' volleyball team, girls' basketball team, and one of the best students in the school. Someone Red had bookmarked as untrustworthy from the opinion of her he had gathered over his two years at Winchester. Behind him was a gaggle of her own friends, or rather lackeys.

Brecken was the most affable person in the school, but Alicia was by far the most popular. For multiple reasons. The favorite of every teacher whose class she graced with her presence, Alicia's popularity for the most part came from her looks. Long auburn hair that reached her waist tied up in an intricate braid, skin that was tanned but not dark, and green eyes. Her voice was like siren song, sweet as honey but as deadly as a bullet. She was of average height, for a girl, and her body had developed beyond her years, but beneath all her looks she was cunning, wily, and above all, ultimately did nothing for anyone but herself. She was so…. Plastic. And Red despised her.

"Aw Red, can't I get a hug from you?" she pouted, spreading her arms, tilting her head, moving one hip to the side and smiling as Red pushed through the wall her friends were forming around him, picking up the pace as he made for his next classroom.

"Not even a hello?" she pretended to sulk, catching up to him and inching closer to him with every second.

Red simply kept walking. She wasn't in his way so he wouldn't say anything. Unless she tried to pull something. He determinedly walked through the open door of the classroom as he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, a head press against his neck and a hand drift up his chest.

"Get off of me!" He wrenched Alicia's hands off of him, stepping forward and turning to face her as she reached for him again.

In a flurry slipped to the floor of his arm and somehow slid forward as he took her by the arm and held her back.

"Miss Varus, I say this without any thoughts of taking it back, take your personal attendants and leave my student and my class!" A young man with sharp features was standing behind his desk, his grey eyes blazing, brown hair standing up from the front as he picked up Red's bag and placed it on his double desk which was purposely kept empty apart from him.

"Thanks professor." Red wheezed, sitting down and trying to normalize his breath as everyone poured into the classroom.

"Anytime Red. Assault isn't allowed in my class without a reason on par with exacting revenge for someone beating up a sibling." The man sat back down, turning to a pile of marked papers and flipping through them.

Professor Sinclair was tall, young, smart, and a very good teacher. After all, he did teach law, trainer theory and math, and still managed to get a 3.5 GPA or above from all his classes. He only accepted those with aptitude into his courses anyway. Pale skin highlighted the focused grey eyes through which he saw everything that went on in the class, unlike most teachers.

Standing beside the professor was a young girl with aqua blue eyes, skin that looked like it had never seen the sun, and honey blond hair falling halfway down her back in a wave tied at the bottom. She was a bit shorter than most girls, but she made up for it with a look of fierce determination.

The bell sounded as Red looked up, pulling out a notebook and a pen, one of the few classes where they didn't use computers being math. He watched as the class filed in slowly, until every seat was taken, with the exception of the seat next to his, from where the seat had been unbolted purposely, and the bolts themselves were lying under the lid of the desk where Red had stowed his bag. The teachers had heard indirectly what put him on edge so much, and whilst he was far from unstable, emotionally or generally, they had decided that with his guarded nature, sometimes it may be better to keep him alone.

Red looked up to see the girl form earlier standing with the teacher quietly as the professor waited for everybody to settle down.

"Everybody, this is Serena Alaric, she's a new student here at Winchester and I hope you'll all make her welcome. She's moved here from Hoenn to live with her mother again. Serena why don't you take a seat over…." Professor Sinclair stopped mid-sentence as his eyes roved the classroom, seeing no empty places except next to Red.

"Wait here a minute. Red, could I have a word with you in the hallway?" he gestured towards Red, who stepped out of his seat quietly and walked out the door to the professor.

"Sorry Red, but she'll have to sit with you. She's new here, so even if she is the type to go crazy over the stars of the school, she won't know you yet. I'll have an extra seat added tomorrow if she is." The man whispered to Red, the fifteen year old staring at him.

"Of course sir. However I'm going to ask that you don't expect me to get along with her if she tries to talk to me at all."

"Oh, and one more thing Red, starting from lunch, you're her mentor for the semester."

Red swore under his breath as he nodded grudgingly, heading to the store room and dragging a seat out from it to the classroom, taking it to his desk and bolting it down.

"Serena why don't you go sit next to Red." Sinclair suggested as Serena nodded, taking in the boy she was going to sit next to as she walked over to her side of the desk.

He was tall, around 5'11", built like a runner with a fair bit of muscle, pale skinned, and his jet black hair wasn't exactly tidy. It wasn't made untidily on purpose, but it was naturally messed up. In her opinion, it looked good. He was quiet, serious looking, his hand over the red cap next to his pen on the desk. But what stuck out the most were his eyes. They were a deep, blood red and they had a liquid-like quality that captivated her as she sat down.

Red examined the girl he was supposed to guide, no doubt she had been told. She was thin, and she had a few curves where her clothes were hugging her body. Red stared into her eyes for a moment, lost in them before he returned to his natural state, jaw clenched, face a blank slate and thoughts guarded

The lessons passed by quickly without anything particularly out of the ordinary happening. Serena tried to make conversation a few times, rebuffed by simple one word answers from Red, focusing on her studies the rest of the time until the lunch break.

Red made his way to the cafeteria, Serena behind him, filing into line and taking a small helping of the steamed fish on offer. He found an empty table for two, tucked away in a corner, and made a beeline for it, seating himself with his back to the wall. Serena, following him, drew up the other chair and sat down, drawing stares from everyone in the cafeteria, including a glare from Alicia.

"So….. You're going to be my mentor for the first semester?" Serena asked timidly as she started into her own food, unable to tear her eyes from his piercing crimson ones.

Red nodded gruffly, continuing to eat.

"Um… is your name actually Red?" She continued, slightly confused by why someone who was supposed to be her friend and help her was being so gruff and moody.

"Lawson. Red Lawson." He replied, looking up and noticing her staring at his eyes as she blushed deeply.

"So what do you like to do with your spare time?" she asked, trying to start up a conversation.

Red stayed silent, looking up and realizing she wasn't going to stop. He stood up, picking up his tray and heading over to the recycling bin, trashing the paper plate and leaving.

Serena stared at him, gulping down the remains of her food and grabbing her bag, running after him. She found the teen standing on a brick terrace overlooking the wooded area near Pallet Town.

"What is the matter with you? Why can't you even reply in a civil manner! Is it one of your instincts to not trust people! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Serena shouted at him as he sighed, turning around and looking at her, her cyan eyes, catching his own.

"You know, there's a part of me that wants to trust you, to have a friend. But I won't. I can't." Red replied softly, staring at her.

"Why!?" she shouted again, staring at him.

"You really want to know why?" he laughed, leaning against the brick railing. "It's because in my experience, the ones who you love, who you care about, the ones you think actually give a damn what you think lie to you! They use you, and everyone else, and they deceive you, hurt you, and break you!"

Red's voice had dimmed to a whisper with the last sentence as Serena's expression changed from one of anger to one of shock, silence, curiosity, and above all, kindness.

Serena could see that he wasn't going to relent, so the only thing she could do for the time being was probably to just stay quiet and get along with him. He seemed like an okay person. He hadn't neglected his duties as her mentor, explaining to her what had needed to be explained. But some part of her wanted to crack him open, help fix whatever was tormenting him and then stitch him back up together.

* * *

Weeks had passed since the first day Red had met Serena, and he had thawed a little bit, replying more readily, but he was still living in his own guarded manner, unwilling to let the walls around him down. There had been times when he'd slip; He'd smile or laugh, and there'd be a twinkle in his eyes that would mesmerize Serena. She had taken it upon herself to get Red to open up to her, else what chance did she have with him.

It was the middle of the day, a particularly sunny Wednesday. They were in the same balcony where Red had first answered her as to why he was so on edge, an open corridor behind them. The railing was cemented over the brick structure, and wide enough for a person to sit on. Which was exactly what Red was doing, sitting there, reading through a free class.

Serena was sitting there, content to stare at him from the other end of the balcony. Red looked up from his book, as he did habitually, catching her gaze and locking his eyes on her.

"Why are you still tailing me everywhere? It's not like you're going to make any friends this way. Go. Find people you can enjoy the next few years of classes with!" He grunted, halfheartedly glaring at her.

In all honesty Red didn't mind her that much since she didn't really do anything to him. She just hung around, staring at things wistfully on occasion. Occasionally at him.

"I'll give you an honest answer. I want to know what made you this guarded. Your first answer makes it evident that something, or rather someone, did this to you. I want to make you understand that I'm only here to help you. I want to. I want to be your friend." She answered, noting the form of a person she had grown apprehensive of approaching.

The sound of Alicia Varus's footsteps became audible as she walked onto the balcony, clearly oblivious to what had just transpired, her back to Serena.

"Hey sexy. Come here!" She leaned forward, trying to wrap her arms around Red. Instinctively, Red leaned back, lost his balance and fell off of the balcony.

Alicia's eyes were closed, her lips pursed for a kiss, her mind swimming with the fact that she might trap Red once, failing to notice what had transpired, despite the shriek Serena let out. Then she saw his hand. He had grabbed hold of one of the brick pillars with one hand, and the ledge below them with the other.

Serena ran over to the railing as Red pulled himself up, flinging himself over the railing and knocking Alicia over in a very un-romantic way.

"Alicia Varus. I have a mind to report you for sexual misconduct right now, but I'll let you go this once. If I hear anything from Red, then that's it for you. Go. Red please stop sitting on railings." Red looked forward to see Brecken's older brother, head of house for the both of them, standing in front of him, and Alicia scrambling away.

"Sure." He replied, nodding at him gratefully as he walked away. Emotions were welling up inside of him, the years of bottled up rage and trauma pushing through a crack in the wall that guarded him and destroying it.

"You want to know what made me like this… I'll tell you… but it's only for your ears." Red remarked, walking off as she scrambled to follow him through the corridors to the basketball courts, the massive rooms empty.

He pulled out the first layer of the bleachers, strain visible on his face, and sat down. Serena took it as a cue to sit down next to him, staring intently into his eyes.

"It all began two years ago, a while after I joined Winchester…" he began, preparing himself for a long tale.

* * *

Two year's prior...

Alexander Fitch opened the door to the small, one bedroom house he had called his home for the past fifteen years, the condition of the house testament to the meager amount of money that went its construction and care. Paint was chipping of the walls on the outside and inside, and there was a colony of termites occupying the tree in the yard, becoming an increasing threat to the house as one or two might drift away from the colony. The steps up to the door were creaking and threatening to break, even under his small frame.

The rest of the house was fine, nothing lavish. One bedroom he shared with his wife, a loft in which their thirteen year old son lived. A small kitchenette and lounge joined together as the main entrance. He could smell a Spearow roasting in the oven and he caught sight of Vanessa, his wife, standing behind the counter, an apron tied around her waist. She was covering something in flour, what it was he had no clue.

Hearing his footsteps against the groaning floor she turned to him, still holding a skillet, her brow furrowed. What neither of them had noticed was that thirteen year old Red had crept down the stairs and was standing, back pressed against a wall, next to the fireplace.

"Vanessa honey! How was your day?" Alexander feigned a smile as he walked towards her arms open.

Vanessa raised the skillet in return, holding it out at him as the fury in her eyes became evident.

"Don't you say that you dirty little double crossing liar!" she shouted, shoving the skillet in his direction before letting it drop to the counter with a clatter, exchanging it for a knife.

"Honey what's wrong?" He asked, gritting his teeth after he asked that, trying to ramp up the empathy, all whilst Red crawled around the floor by the wall, still unnoticed, an iron poker from the inactive fireplace in his hand.

"You left your phone at home. Your boss called… Smith was it… he said he had another assignment for you…. For half a million dollars… taking someone out and making it look like an accident…." She shouted at him, Red noticing the bulge in the back of his waistband and reaching for it slowly. Alexander's face went through a flurry of expressions, starting with shock, moving to panic, then calming down and going back to feigned shock, all in the span of two seconds. Yet it had still betrayed him.

"So it really is true…. You make a living k-k-ill-ling people." Vanessa choked on the words, her hands trembling as tears formed in her eyes. Meanwhile, Red had his hand firmly around the gun, ready to pull it out.

Alexander took Vanessa's moment of weakness as his chance, reaching for his Beretta in the moment Red whipped it out, pointing it at him and hitting him in the leg with the poker.

"What the! RED!?" He shouted, pulling his shin up and cradling it against his thigh. Then his face contorted into a sneer. "That thing's empty anyway."

Red's heart nearly rose to his throat as he realized Alexander was speaking the truth. Steeling himself, he spoke.

"Get out! Get out and don't come back! I can get ammunition for this faster than you could get a new one, even if you got it illegally." Red shouted, keeping the hand with the poker steady. He pulled a knife out of the knife block, slipping the gun into his own waistband.

He felt his heart sink as Alexander started to laugh, doubling over. "You know what? I think I may just do that! I have seventy four million dollars in savings, in an account which I very thoughtfully didn't give you access too! Enjoy the rest of your lives without half the money you were earning. I'm just cutting off a sand bag here! You can be sure you'll never see me again!" he doubled over laughing once more as Red held the poker out towards him warily before stumbling out of the door, still laughing. Red followed him out, watching as he stumbled out.

"Oh Red honey!" His mother burst into tears, embracing him from behind as he found himself paralyzed, watching his father pull a wad of cash out of his pocket and walk down to the docks.

An hour later they found themselves inside, a cup of hot cocoa in front of each of them as Red tore through his father's checkbook to see if there were any stubs with his signature on them. He had had no luck so far. He had managed to forge his father's handwriting, writing out a check for seventy three and a half million. His father could easily get rich again. But right now Red wanted help his mother out. He had been right when he had said they would have trouble without his half of the income. He had pretended to make a living by making paintings and selling them, occasionally joining lumber crews when they had space. Paintings… Then it occurred to him. One of those paintings was in the house.

Filled with energy, Red sprinted through the door of his mother's bedroom finding the painting he was looking for and scribbling down what he hoped was his father's real signature from it. Smiling, he dashed back to his mother and tore the check off, putting it down in front of her. She had been forced to take any work she could get, washing clothes, cooking, babysitting, for fifteen years. Now it was time for them to live like royalty.

* * *

Red was sitting in one of Professor Sinclair's three classrooms, in law, the table exactly like that of the defendant in a court. As were the seats, which were of course, not able to be taken to another desk, but movable none the less. He was sitting with Serena, whom he had asked for as his partner when half the teachers in the school had said that the remainder of their courses, and the following courses, would be pair work. She had become the only person apart from his mother and the basketball team that he could trust. When he had first looked into her aqua eyes, there had been a part of him that had automatically decided that she was trustworthy, that she actually cared about others, and had let down the walls earlier.

"Each of you has a partner, and the case files are stored in your desks. Everyone's case file has a marker on the front page. Green means defendant, yellow means opposition. You have one hour to come up with a way to win today, and you will present your case in tomorrow's class. Both of you will work on this together, both from the perspective of a lawyer, and from that of the defendant or the opposition. Tomorrow, both of you will act as lawyers on behalf of your clientele, I will be your judge as usual, and I will find to students to come on stand as the defendant and opposition. Get to work!" Sinclair's voice rang through the classroom as Red pulled out his computer, plugging in the USB wire that was coming out of the desk.

"Defendant." Serena whispered to him as he nodded, passing the files along to her when there was a series of short raps on the door.

"IN AND OUT!" Sinclair shouted, signifying that he wanted whoever was at the door to make their announcement and get out.

Red looked at the door, feeling sorry for whichever poor soul was behind it, watching as it opened. His eyes widened as not a student, nor a teacher, but rather the famous Professor Samuel Oak of Pallet Town, the Pokémon professor, walked into the room, walking down to the teacher's area from the amphitheater like rows of seats where the door was.

"What do you want?" Sinclair asked, still not looking up from a pile of papers he was checking.

"Professor, perhaps you might be interested in this as well." His calm voice sounded through the classroom as Sinclair's neck snapped up, his eyes widening as he saw his old teacher in front of him.

"Students and professor, there will be a talk regarding Cinnibar Island's predicament and how Pallet's charities plan to deal with it later today in the laboratory. Any of you who wish to attend are welcome." The old man announced, his squarish jaw not moving much as he spoke, leaving immediately after.

"You going?" Serena whispered, turning towards him so that no one would overhear them not conversing about the case.

"Probably. I'll put my allowance savings into their efforts if they need donations." Red replied, opening an empty page to start work.

* * *

After school the same day…

Red walked out of the building as Serena ran up to him, grabbing his shoulder.

"Hey, where do you live?" she asked, slightly out of breath.

"4O Redwood West End Drive, Redwood Enclave, why?" he asked, turning toward her as they walked down the steps from the school entrance.

"Oh, then can you walk with me back home, I don't really know my way around Pallet yet, and I live next door to you." She replied, blushing slightly.

"Sure, but then how do you get to school?" Red asked, mildly confused as they walked out of School property, the banner still hanging there.

"Um... my mother used to drop me off. Now that she's started working again though, she's a bit busy." She replied, blushing again as Red nodded, leading her through the town and all the way to the suburbs, where he stopped in front of a gated community, Redwood Enclave.

He and his mother had moved from the small worker dock area house to a large manor in the suburbs after he had taken the lion's share of his father's money for his mother and sent him off, living more comfortably, but not in excess.

He walked up to the guard house inside the thick brick wall next to the gate which cut Redwood Enclave off from the rest of the city, tapping on the window as the guard inside motioned to the new number pad on the side, sitting back as his Arcanine walked around outside.

Red dialed in a code, walking inside as the gate opened for him. Serena walked after him, but the gate closed itself, waiting for something.

"Brilliant, I forgot to tell you!" Red half smiled, half grimaced. "They finally installed the new dial pad. Anyone who enters has to enter their house's code into the pad, one time for each person, and the gate has a pressure sensor under it. It shuts after the correct amount of people are in. type in your house code and come in."

Serena nodded, pulling out the piece of paper her mother had given her earlier that day and typing the code in before walking the rest of the way with Red.

They walked down Redwood Crescent and Redwood Drive West, making their way down the long street as it tilted farther and farther apart from Redwood Drive East, where in the beginning you could see the houses on the other side easily, and soon there was a thick forest between them. They followed the road to the end, the houses being on their right side as they made their way all the way to their houses, the last two on the right, 39 and 40. Serena's house itself was a largish manor with white walls and a blue roof, two floors and a large garden and driveway leading up to it.

Red's house, a large white manor with a slate gray roof, two floors, a not too large garden with Redwood trees on the front and the side next to Serena's house behind the metal fencing swaying in the wind ever so slightly.

On the left of Red's house, the road didn't end. It went further enough to make a ninety degree turn and remain as wide as it was, turning through a large gate, not unlike that at the entrance to Redwood Enclave, and going down to what looked like a shallowish mountainside reservoir, but was actually a swimming pool for the residents of Redwood Enclave's West End Drive, a large park running in front of the houses on the other side of the road.

"When's the talk in the lab?" Serena asked Red walked her to her driveway, stopping at the entrance.

"In an hour." Red replied, smiling slightly. "Do you have a bike? The lab is much farther away than the school."

"Yeah, again, do you mind if I go with you?" she asked, blushing slightly again.

"Sure, meet me in one hour." he replied, waving and walking towards his own house.

* * *

Red sat down in the lab, near the back as Serena shuffled through the seats, sitting down next to him as Professor Oak began speaking.

"I'm going to keep this short and simple. The volcano on Cinnibar Island is going to erupt within a day or two. Blaine has initiated evacuation. But they're waiting for ships to get there to take them. Unluckily for them, it isn't tourist season, so there were only two boats harbored there, both small speedboats, which were personally owned and have already been taken. Anyone with a flying Pokémon has escaped. The minute the volcano starts spewing ash, I will depart with a fleet of five ships, as large as I can get, and a team of volunteers for each ship to help evacuate people, children, and Pokémon. For those who wish to donate materials to help us, the donations will be accepted by the three receptionists after this talk until tonight. Anyone who wishes to volunteer should come to me after the talk." He announced, leaving as everyone began murmuring.

"I'm going to go make a donation Red, you coming?" Serena asked, standing up as Red stayed sitting for a moment.

"Go ahead. Wait for me at the ice cream parlor outside. I want to ask the professor something." He replied as Serena nodded, making her way out.

Red stood up, walking through the crowds of people headed towards reception. So nobody here wanted to volunteer yet. He walked after the professor picking up his pace to keep up with the fit old man. He slipped through a door after him as it was about to close, and near death awaited him.

The minute he slipped through the door, he ducked, his survival instinct kicking in as a huge Charizard snapped at where his head would have been seconds ago, seeing his chance and reaching up while its head was still down, scratching it behind the horns.

It gave a happy roar and lay down as Red proceeded to cautiously keep going to the man at the desk, who was clapping.

"Amazing. Nobody has ever been able to tell when Magnus has been about to attack in the last forty years, the last being a psychic! What do you want child." He questioned, sitting down at his desk as Red walked up to it, standing in front of him.

"I want to volunteer." He replied briefly as Oak smiled.

"For the Cinnibar rescues?" the old man laughed, before realizing that Red was serious.

"Fine. Ask my assistant in the room to the left of this one for a slab of Tauros meat, and go leave it on the cliff in the ranch. The Pokémon in the ranch won't hurt you. Just leave it on the cliff for one of my Pokémon in particular to find when he's hungry and come back. Then I'll decide." The old man instructed him as Red nodded, suspecting something and heading over to the room next door and asking the man for a slab of Tauros meat.

The man tossed it to him without question, sighing as Red walked out and through the labs to the ranch, making his way for higher ground as many curious Pokémon flocked around his legs from time to time. His suspicions only grew when he passed by a large Arcanine, who after smelling the slab, gave him a toothy grin.

Red walked on for another five minutes, finally reaching the top of a huge face of rock. He stopped to catch his breath, still holding the slab of meat. He let go of it, letting it fall to the ground as he instinctively ducked again, falling against the ground as a shadow possibly as big as his old house passed over him, the magnificent, membranous green wings of a large, scaly Dragonite all he saw for a moment until it stopped and stared at him.

Red scrambled to his feet, holding his palms out in a gesture of peace as the dragon approached, sniffing his hands before deciding he was friendly and turning to the meat, charring it evenly and eating it.

Red grimaced at another near death experience. The Dragonite's wings would have sent him flying across Pallet Town and into the ocean easily. Oak had wanted to test him, to see if he could survive on an island full of hostile fire types with a volcano about to explode.

He dusted himself down, malice in his eyes, and walked back to the lab, entering it and making his way first for a restroom to wash of the smell of Tauros meat from his hands with liquid soap, and then to the professor's office where this time Magnus just stared at him lazily.

"I left the meat there." Red stated as the professor looked up, his eyes wide when he didn't even spot a scratch on the fifteen year old. He stared for a minute until he broke out into a grin.

"Good. Leave me your name and phone number. Your personal one. I'll call you an hour before we depart." The man replied as Red wrote down the number and his name, walking out and making his way to the ice cream parlor where Serena was waiting, having just gotten herself a cone.

"Hi." Red greeted as he got himself a cone and sat down with her, moving the vase with flowers in it to one side so he could see her.

"What were you doing? What did you want to ask him?" Serena questioned him between licks, the ice cream slowly diminishing.

"I'm going to Cinnibar." Red replied, taking a bite out of his own cone.

"Good one Red!" Serena laughed, before noticing his expression. "Wait, seriously!? He's letting you go!?"

"Yes." Red replied, understanding why she wouldn't believe it.

"Why the hell is he letting you go!?" she nearly screamed, setting her cone down as Red told her about the entire process.

"If you die it's not my fault." Serena finally teased, licking her cone again.

* * *

The next morning, around six a.m. (Saturday)

Red sat up for a minute, unsure why his phone was ringing before he checked the caller ID, nearly swearing as he rushed to change and fix his hair a little bit, gathering a few things he might need and filling his pockets with them as he wrote out a note, telling his mother that he had got the call, and taped it to the front of his door, running outside and biking as fast as he could, reaching the lab within fifteen minutes.

"Son, why are you out of breath?" Oak questioned as Red locked his bike at the harbor next to the lab, walking onto the ship Oak would be leading.

"I biked here as fast as I could sir." Red replied as the man stared at him.

"Where do you live?" he asked finally, trying to figure out whether he was unfit or suffering of a respiratory disease.

"Redwood Enclave sir, last house on Redwood West End Drive." He replied as Oak's eyes widened, staring at the boy. It should have taken him half an hour to get to the lab.

"Eh… you remind me of myself when I was young. My grandson is nothing like you. I wish he was though." The old man remarked as the ship set off, picking up speed as they neared 175 knots, making their way to Cinnibar as Red watched ash spew from the mouth of the volcano in the distance, a red hue lighting up the early morning sky from the south, the volcano outshining the rising sun.

They were approaching Cinnibar Island when it happened. It was something Red could never, and would never forget. His eyes were fixed on the volcano, trying to keep track of a wild Magmar to keep himself busy when the earth shook, waves surging over the deck of the ship and tilting it dangerously to the sides, rocking it in every direction as the first blast of lava exited the crater of the volcano, some of it falling back down the side of the volcano and pouring down, most of it raining form the sky like hell fire.

"IT'S HAPPENED PEOPLE! OUR PRIORITY IS TO SAVE AS MANY PEOPLE AND POKEMON AS WE CAN! GET BACK TO THE BOAT WHEN THE TIMER ON YOUR VEST RINGS, OR YOU HAVE AS MANY BEINGS AS YOU CAN GET THERE! THEN ITS ROUND TWO UNTIL I BLOW THE HORN!" Oak shouted, his brow furrowed as they stare at Cinnibar, docking and letting down a large gangplank.

Red slipped on his vest and sprinted through the chaos on the island, weaving through the people who were fine and could make their way to the ships and finding those who couldn't. He spent so long herding young children to the ships who said their parents were missing and giving them to the captain, who listed their names and announced on a loud speaker to the island so their parents could hear that they were safe, that he didn't know what time it was. All he knew was that the sun would be high up but the ash clouds were blocking it. the buzzer on his vest buzzed and he took the last people he had to the ship before running off again after taking a quick drink form one of many bottles of water kept there for the people running on and off the ship.

He sprinted towards a young man with what looked like a dislocated shoulder yelling for help, a young woman unconscious next to him, presumably his wife, and his two children, a little boy and girl crying next to him.

"Sir is your arm broken!?" Red shouted over the chaos as the man nodded, noting the vest.

"You kids, get on our backs, one each, piggyback ride! It's all going to be okay! Sir, with your uninjured arm, help me carry your wife to the ship!" he called out as he bent down, taking the little boy on his back and taking he woman's back, her husband taking his daughter and helping red to carry his wife as they stumbled their way to the ship.

"Thank you sir!" The man shouted as Red noticed the people not going back this time. He could see a little girl wailing on the island, holding a Teddiursa doll, and he ran for her, grabbing her and bringing her back to the ship as he watched the families of Charizard fly by, holding their younglings on their backs and in their arms. He watched as a baby Charmander that he had watched hatch while the mother carried it off fall.

"It's going to come back for it." Red whispered to himself tensely. Then he realized that the mother was abandoning one for the safety off the rest. He heard a horn sound in the distance, and he vaguely remembered Oak shout that the volcano was going to erupt again as he sprinted off the rising gangplank, running towards the falling Charmander and jumping, catching it in his arms, falling against the rocky surface of the island. He grunted and got to his feet, starting to run again.

It stared at him with its big, sea green eyes as he ran for the gangplank, jumping and catching one end of it with his hand as it rose up, lifting him onto the deck as it lay down against the floor, the sailors closing the gate as helping him up as Oak stared at him, the volcano erupting again as they set off.

"Never leave a man behind. Especially not a youngling. The heaviest coffins are the smallest." Red uttered the words as he cradled the baby fire lizard, soothing it and bringing it a little bit off water to drink as he sat down, pain flaring as he realized he had broken his own arm earlier when he dove.

He walked over to the medical area, getting his arm checked, and then having the Charmander vaccinated. It had just been born after all. He sat down, rocking it to sleep as he too fell asleep soon after, waking up as they made port in Pallet Town, rested enough that he could bike home at a relaxed pace, having given the baby Charmander to the professor.

He entered his home, walking pas this mother with a small wave, dead tired and going to his room to collapse on bed as he looked at the time, which was around three in the afternoon.

* * *

Around six in the evening…

Red woke up, his bones aching, his arm screaming in pain in its cast as he removed the cloth layer, revealing the water proof layer so he could take a shower. He dried himself off as he heard his mother call out to him from his room.

"WEAR SOMETHING NICE! WE'RE HAVING A FEW PEOPLE OVER FOR DINNER!" she called out as he nodded to himself, knocking on the door to signify his hearing it and turning back to the closet, pulling out a pair of black jeans and blood red shirt, slipping them on and heading out to his room to pick up his watch and phone. He slipped the latter into his pocket and the former onto his wrist, checking the time and walking down to find a woman he assumed was Serena's mother due to the striking resemblance, and his own mother cooking for what seemed to be more than a few people as he saw Serena running in and out to the garden with the dishes, setting them out.

He walked out of the house, his mother too busy to notice him, his eyes wide as he saw a table with enough food for a fifty people. He looked at the seats which indicated around twenty four people and sighed, sitting down on one.

He sat with Serena as the dinner started, people like his closer neighbors, his mother's friends, and professor Oak arrived, settling in and eating away.

He stared at his watch, to see seven forty five when his mother tapped her glass for attention. Serena passed him a bottle of cola as he grimaced. His mother's toasts were always long.

"People, thank you all for coming. Now we toast to the real purpose of this celebration. Red Lawson!" she called out, causing Red's head to jerk up, his unyielding crimson eyes staring into her own.

"Red proved himself worthy of going to Cinnibar for the rescue with Professor Oak, and saved as many people as anybody else, before going back for a little girl that everybody else had abandoned, and after that, risking being stranded on Cinnibar to save a newborn Charmander which's mother wasn't going to save it. Red Lawson!" she called out, tears in her eyes as she raised her glass, drinking.

"Red Lawson!" everyone called out, including Serena and the professor, drinking, Serena sticking a straw in his bottle of cola and siphoning some of it before he himself raised it to his lips and tilted his head back, drinking from it.

He remained quiet as the party went on, people walking all around the garden and chatting, until Professor Oak came up to him.

"Erm… Red, we tried to get the Charmander into rehabilitation so Magnus could raise it, but it didn't listen to us. I think it only wants to listen to you. So until you're seventeen, if you choose to become a trainer that is, it will be registered under your house, and if you do choose to become a trainer, I will then register it under your name when you are off age. Now you'll want to raise it for a year and a half before you start training it for battle in the least. You shouldn't even train it then. You should only let it learn what battling is. You should train it when you're on your journey." Professor Oak explained, taking a transparent red and white sphere, the sleeping form of a minimized Charmander visible inside, and holding it out to Red.

"Wait, you're giving it to me?" Red asked, startled, as he stared at the ball in Professor's hand.

"Yes. Now take it before I change my mind." Oak sighed as Red grinned and accepted the ball, looking into it.

"Charmander, welcome to the family." The orange fire lizard was scratching about in the ball, and Red could tell it could hear him.

"You want a name?" he whispered to the ball, looking through the transparent half to see Charmander nodding as it tried to shake the ball as violently as it could. He knew he wouldn't always see Charmander through the pokeball, only for a few days whilst the pokeball analyzed it behavior patterns and designed a synthetic habitat for it.

"How about Hurycayn?" He asked as he saw Charmander nod violently again. "Welcome home Hurycayn."

* * *

Present day…

Red stood in front of Serena's house as the mover's finished loading the boxes into the truck, waiting for her and her mother.

"Red, can we please stay friends?" Serena asked, holding both of his hands and staring at him with wide, pleading eyes.

"Of course! Why would you even think otherwise?" Red smiled sadly. Serena's mother was forcing her to move with her to the Kalos region to start her Pokémon journey, and Red's recent plans of travelling Kanto with his only friend had gone down the drain.

"Good. I'll text you when I get a Kaloasian number. Goodbye Red." A single tear rolled down Serena's cheek as she leaned forward and stood on her toes, kissing Red on the lips, causing him to blush as she let go off his hands and got into the moving van, waving as her mother closed the doors.

"Goodbye." Red whispered softly, watching the truck drive off to the airport to make the sixteen hour flight to Kalos. He stood there for a minute, his own bag slung over his shoulder as he waited for his mother to come out of the house.

She walked out, tears in her eyes, apron and oven gloves and as Red approached her. She wrapped her arms around him suddenly, not leaving him with any breath as he whispered goodbye into her ear.

"Bye Red. Come back to visit as soon as you can fly here." She replied as he nodded, mounting his bike and setting off for the lab, making his way across town at a good pace.

Red reached the lab as he parked his bike, standing there for a minute as Magnus greeted him. after saluting the dragon, he walked into the lab, making his way through the lab to his Professor Oak's research rooms, where the old man was waiting with a young man his own age, spiky brown hair, a black shirt and purple pants.

He looked arrogant, you could see it in his eyes. Arrogant and cold. He stood there, waiting for his grandfather to say something, fiddling with the two poke balls on his belt.

"Well boys, first off, congratulations on becoming trainers! Red, this is my grandson, Blue Oak. Blue, this is the boy everyone was celebrating two years ago during the Cinnibar crisis, Red Lawson. I have a job for both of you. Regardless of how widely I have studied Pokémon, or for how long I have studied them, there is just data we can't get without examining them up close. That's where your phones come in. Blue, I promised you a new cellphone for becoming a trainer, even though you said you didn't need one, from Silph. Red, you said you received one made by Devon from your grandfather in Hoenn recently?" Oak began as both boys nodded.

"Well for both phones, I will give you two a new cover each, which is made of transparent solar panels. Completely transparent. And extremely durable. They charge your phone as you go, so you won't be travelling without a means of contacting others. I will upload onto your phones, a program mad by us, which when you capture a Pokémon, you point the camera at it once, and it will scan every bit of data we can get on it. I don't want you to catch every Pokémon in the world, or even Kanto. Only catch the ones you want to raise. And you will have access to our database on every single Pokémon in the world, as far as the data goes. And I'm not telling you how it works. Dock your phones please." Oak finished as both boys silently took out their phones and docked them, their screens lighting up as the professor loaded the programs onto them and handed them glass like covers. Red's was the same color as his eyes, and Blue's was Blue.

Ironically. Red unlatched the rigid cover and fixed his phone in it as it filled up the missing five percent of its battery slowly.

"OFF WITH YOU LOT! I HAVE A MEETING WITH THE ELITE FOUR!" Oak shouted suddenly as Red jumped, startled, heading out of the building, Blue walking out behind him.

"So you're the famous Blue Oak." Red turned to face him, on guard as he spoke up. This was one person he definitely needed to know as much about as he could.

"So what if I am." Blue replied in a cold manner, turning to Red.

"Care for a battle?" Red asked, wanting to analyze him.

"I'd rather not. Frankly I'm surprised gramps even gave someone like you the software." Blue commented, his expression cold as he walked off.

Red couldn't help but smile. Here was someone who was just as on edge as he was, if for different reasons he presumed. A rival.


	2. Smoke Storm

**Chapter 2: Smoke Storm**

 **A/N: Revamped as well. I guess that's about all I have to say pretty much, except Read and Review…. Actually one thing to say, only a few changes here and there in this chapter, but they significantly affect some dynamics. In any case, enjoy - Spironax**

* * *

Red set off on his bike, making his way out of town slowly towards the edges of the city. Today was the day the new neighbors were moving in, and he was probably going to be summoned back to meet them if he hadn't gotten too far from Pallet Town by then.

He sighed, staring down the road, wishing Serena was with him as Hurycayn stretched on his neck, where it was curled up, watching the building pass by as Red neared the exit to Route 1.

"Well buddy, this is it. Our first steps out of Pallet Town, out of home. We're officially partners now. Each step will bring us closer to our goal, even if it's back towards Pallet Town. Let's head off, and try and make it to Viridian City within the week." Red's eyes settled on the sign that stood before the route entrance, warning people without Pokemon from traversing without a vehicle.

He kicked off, pedaling furiously to make his way towards Viridian City by the end of the week. His bike pushed through the grass, carrying the duo forward faster than either could move. Red watched a small Rattata approach him and Hurycayn, before scurrying away. It was fine by him. He didn't really want a Raticate anyway. Besides, the professor hadn't asked them to capture every Pokemon in the world. There were too many. He had just asked them to allow data to be recorded on them.

He skidded to a halt as a young boy, wearing a blue hat, yellow shirt and blue shorts, ran past him, chasing a Rattata away.

"Isn't there a law that prohibits people from training Pokemon until they're seventeen?" Red remarked to Hurycayn as the duo continued onwards, watching the sun rise higher in the sky as they made their way towards Viridian City.

"Hurycayn, you hungry?" Red asked the little fire lizard curled up around his neck as he biked towards a ridge, turning to go up a slope and get to the higher ground, around two in the afternoon.

"Char, Charmander." The fire type shook its head, visible in the rear view mirrors Red had fixed onto the bike for city biking.

"Okay, maybe in an hour we'll stop and have a snack or something and then keep going. You and I both have to learn to rough it and consume less than we generally do per day." Red instructed, Hurycayn nodding again in the rear view mirror and settling down on Red's neck again for a snooze in the afternoon sun, the wind keeping them cool.

By three thirty they had managed to cover a fair bit of ground, considering it was their first day, but then again he had a bike with him. Most trainers started out on foot.

Red sat down by the trees, the bike and Hurycayn next to him, pulling a box of cereal bars out of his bag, eating three and giving some of the special blend fire type Pokemon food his mother had made before he left, watching as Hurycayn ate it, finding it damningly adorable.

"Let's go, we need to get to Viridian by nightfall." Red remarked, picking the fire lizard up and placing him on his neck as he mounted the bike after cleaning up, heading off again for Viridian City, pedaling furiously as he arrived around six in the evening.

He made his way to the Pokemon center, parking and locking his bike outside as he walked into the empty lobby, a bored looking nurse with blue hair, blue eyes, and a pale complexion to pull it off not to mention a slim figure to go with it. Red walked up to her, tapping the desk in case she was asleep.

"Hello sir, how may I help you today?" she asked, standing up and examining him, taking her time.

"Um… I'd like a room for the night please, and directions to the gym as well. And is there a cafeteria in the center or should I go somewhere else?" he asked, examining her in turn.

"The viridian gym is temporarily closed sir, and there is a cafeteria in the center. Just let me see if there are any rooms." She smiled as she walked over to another nurse, holding a whispered conversation with her, before turning around and walking to the counter again, a slightly sorrowful smile decorating her face.

"I'm sorry sir, we have no single rooms available. The only room left is one double room, occupied by another young man of around your own age. I believe his name was Oak…. Blue Oak. By the way, hail is expected tonight." She finished, checking her screen.

"Please check me in." Red replied, waiting as the nurse nodded, keying in his details, walking out the doors and heading for the pokemart once she was done. He walked through the city, moving at an ambling pace, reaching the Pokemart around half an hour later. He walked through the automatic double doors, recalling Hurycayn for the time being as he walked up and down the aisles, examining what kind of items had a no badge classification. There were items you weren't allowed to use until you had a certain number of badges, and there were those you didn't need badges for. He picked up a few pokeballs and walked to the counter, placing them down and waiting for the cashier, who seemed to be signing for a parcel of some sort.

"Hello, I'll just check this out for you." The man greeted, not looking at Red but scanning his trainer card and the items and stopping.

"You're from Pallet Town?" he asked, looking up with a glimmer in his eyes.

"Yes." Red replied, slightly creeped out.

"Can you take this parcel to Professor Oak for me?" he asked, shoving the parcel he had just received into Red's hands.

"What! No! I'm going in the other direction!" Red replied, taking his pokeballs and walking out of the store.

"Come on Hurycayn, let's get back to the center, this guy's seriously weird." Red whispered to the fire lizard around his neck as he walked out into the cold cloudy evening.

He looked up, watching the Pidgey rise higher and higher as they circled on an invisible current, the maelstrom of winds drawing every Pidgey towards it. It was going to rain. And it was going to rain hard. Red pushed himself to run as fast as he could to make it to the Pokemon center, dashing in through the revolving doors as the first few drops of rain hit the ground, a torrential storm soon following.

"That was close." He whispered to Hurycayn, thinking he was hallucinating as he heard a small voice reply, 'Agreed'.

He looked around, seeing no one nearby who could have said it, walking up to the hallway with a sign for the cafeteria on it. He walked down it, making his way to the crowded area, finding a place in the line for himself as time dragged on, forcing him to wait around an hour to get food for himself and Hurycayn, before being unable to find a place to sit. He leaned against the wall, sighing as he handed his Pokemon its food, watching it eat while he fed himself.

He watched the trainers mill around the cafeteria, some bound to be bearing more than half the badges in Kanto. Once he had eaten, he walked back out and made his way to the front desk, where the same nurse was standing.

"Excuse me, could you please tell me what room I'm checked into?" Red asked, raising an eyebrow as she blushed, before realizing it was at her earlier mistake.

"Let's see here…. Room 245." She replied, handing him an electronic key.

"Thanks." Red responded, turning around and heading down the corridor

He pulled out his phone, checking his notifications to find a missed call and a message from his mother telling him to call her. He dialed her number, wondering why she could have asked him to call her when he himself had said he would call her at night.

He pressed the phone to his ear, waiting as the carrier bounced the signal around Kanto, trying to connect him to his mother through the storm. Around the tenth bell, she picked up.

"Oh, Red honey! Good, you got my message!" she greeted him, a little bit drowsiness in her voice.

"Yeah, what's up?" Red replied, reaching over his neck with his other hand and scratching Hurycayn on the head.

"Red, honey, can you come back to Pallet Town for a few more days, meet the new neighbors?" She asked hesitantly as Red gritted his teeth, sighing inwardly.

"I'll come if you have a valid reason." Red retorted, pulling his cap slightly lower over his hair.

"I was getting to that. You remember your cousin had a Lucario which had a few Riolu pups when we went to visit them two years ago? You remember one of them grew extremely attached to you?" she asked slowly, the connection going a bit fuzzy.

"Yes, and where is this going?" Red asked, inwardly trying to figure it out.

"Well, it heard your grandfather mention to him that you were starting you journey off and asked to be sent to you. He sent it over in its pokeball. You need to come and get it since you forgot your computer at home and you can't use your PC account without it. You also need to get that. And on top of that, when your grandfather found out you've started your journey, he sent you a dragon type of his own to accompany you, and even though I told him you had a Charmander, he sent you a Trapinch." She explained, her voice slightly muffled.

"Okay, I'll be there by tomorrow evening." Red sighed, shutting his phone and walking over to the door marked 245 and knocking once before inserting his key and entering.

Inside the room, sound asleep on the bed, his rival, who somehow got here before he did. That was awkward considering Red had a bike. In any case, Blue was sleeping like a log, half under the sheets, half over them, on one of the tiny beds in the two corners of the room. Red sighed, setting his bag down and walking over to the tiny attached restroom and changing before crashing on the other bed, Hurycayn curling up in a basket with the different types and their proofing confirmed on it.

* * *

The next morning…

Red woke up to find his rival on the floor, still asleep, a chain clenched in his right fist. He stood up carefully, attempting to find a way to navigate the tiny floor without touching Blue. Sadly there was none, therefore, Red walked over Blue's left leg, waking the other boy up.

"What the hell! Red?" Blue exclaimed, not in pain, but merely woken up.

"You're the one who fell asleep and fell on the floor." He retorted, ducking into the bathroom and changing quickly before heading out of the Pokemon center and unlocking his bike to start off after a quick breakfast.

* * *

Later in the evening, around an hour before sunset…

Red pedaled furiously, making his way through Pallet after entering the town, towards Redwood Enclave. The familiar scenery whizzed by as random thoughts swirled in Red's head, the main one being Ace Trainers, and their ranks. The higher up they were, the less the public knew about them.

Each Ace Trainer had a badge, in the shape of a shield, with a solid V going from the tip to the wide edge, and bars of the same metal the badge was made of extending from the V to the sides. In between the bars and the edges were five spaces on each side. This much was known to the public that there were five ranks, and for each rank you got, the colored glass, in the color of your region, was removed from two opposite bars on either side and replaced with a gem of the same color. In the center of the V was the region's league's seal.

Kanto was red, Johto blue and Sevii turquoise, hence Indigo. Hoenn was green, Sinnoh was yellow, Unova was purple and Kalos was white. He biked towards the gates, entering the code for his house and biking down through the enclave towards his house. He pushed himself to make his way there, slowing down and riding leisurely as he neared the turning to his lane, returning Hurycayn and looking ahead.

Walking slowly across the road was an extremely pretty young girl around Red's age, with blonde hair, a curving figure from what he could see of her and over ear headphones on, two long black wires trailing from them. He looked to his right as he started to turn himself, his eyes widening as he looked.

A huge truck was going through the road at around eighty miles an hour, and it was coming straight at the girl. Red pedaled furiously, biking forward to the center of the road, adjacent to the girl and jumping off his bike, grabbing her and landing on the sidewalk, his left arm flaring up in pain. He turned his head slowly to see his bike lying on the road, mangled, and the truck slowing down further ahead as it reached the end of the lane, stopping.

Red looked up to see the girl he had saved lying on top of him, slowly opening her electric blue eyes and staring at him. He stared into her eyes, trying to read them as he tried to keep his face devoid of emotion, failing utterly as he examined her features, enraptured by her perfectly sculpted face.

She slowly stood up, moving off of him and dusting herself off as Red carefully stood up, avoiding putting any pressure on his left arm until he knew whether it was broken or not.

"Thanks." The girl blushed, standing up to her full height, around three inches shorter than Red at 5' 10". "I'm Elesa, Elesa Lark."

"Lawson, Red Lawson." Red responded, examining her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think I'm fine." She replied, rubbing her arm nervously. Even with his history of not letting people in, he was finding it hard to dislike her, quiet possibly because of internal chemical changes. Her blue eyes went perfectly with her honey blond hair and pale skin, her curving figure drifting to the front of Red's mind momentarily.

"Wait, Lawson… You're Ms. Lawson's son?" she asked, looking him in the eyes.

"Yes." He replied as they walked forward slowly, making their way towards their respective houses, running into the man who was driving the truck.

"Hey, you two kids ok? I'll pay your bills if you aren't and I'll pay you for the bike as well!" the man apologized hurriedly as the cause of his obliviousness to the road became apparent. There was a wild Pidgey locked inside the cabin of the truck, peck marks visible all over the man's arms and face.

"It's ok. You might want to deal with the Pidgey though." Red replied, making his way towards his house with Elesa in tow.

"Text me if you want to meet up sometime." Elesa stated, scribbling her number down on a piece of paper and handing it to him before standing on her toes and kissing him on the cheek, causing him to blush deeply as he walked into his house. He made his way through the manor to the lounge, walking into the open area to find his mother sitting on the couch reading a book.

"I'm home, and I may have a broken arm." Red greeted her, sitting down and resting his left arm on a cushion, watching as she looked up from the book and handed him two pokeballs.

"Hello honey. They're in here. And what happened?" she asked, putting the book away. "How was your journey so far, tell me everything that's happened?"

And so Red proceeded to tell her, explaining all the way up to the truck and leaving it at that.

"Well honey, go meet the neighbors in the morning." She replied, "And I'm driving you to the hospital right now. Let's go!"

The doctor, a young woman living in his own colony, confirmed that his arm had been broken, and that he was an idiot for breaking it, considering the fact the Red didn't explain how it had been broken, before sending him off with his arm in a cast, as they drove back home.

Once in his room he plucked his pokeballs off his belt, releasing all three of his Pokemon into the room. His room was in all essentiality fireproofed and there was an entirely fire resistant basket bed for Hurycayn right by his own bed. One of the few flammable things in the room was him.

Two new Pokemon which he had seen before were released into the room along with the young Charmander. One was a young bipedal wolf Pokemon, with blue and black fur all over, and a patch of black fur on its face in the shape of a mask, a Riolu, which he assumed was the one that had kept following him around on his last visit to his grandfather.

The other was a Pokemon of the same house, on he was friendly with, a Trapinch of his grandfather's. His grandfather, a dragon specialist, generally kept the young ones in the house, not battling or training until they were able to use their bodies to the maximum potential in battle. After all it wouldn't do to be a brilliant battler but lose because you couldn't move as quickly as possible.

"Hi. I'm assuming you guys remember me because I remember you. Correct?" Red asked as both Pokemon nodded, turning towards each of them in turn with a smile on his face.

"This is your teammate, Hurycayn." Red gestured in the direction of the fire type, who had been scratching his tail at the time.

Red looked around as he faintly heard two voices speak up, greeting each other, a third ringing clearly.

"Do any of you hear other people talking around here or is it just me?" Red asked, as all the Pokemon, confused, stared at him.

"Ah… Never mind. In any case, I see my mother has prepared two more baskets for you guys. We'll set off again on the journey that I've started after a few weeks, because I sort of broke my arm on the way back.

"See, there was this truck about to hit this girl, and I sort of jumped and saved her." Red summarized to their quizzical looks.

Red looked around again as he heard one of the fainter voices, slightly clicky, speak up, still hazy to Red's ears

' _Red... No nickname….. Over here_.' It went, causing Red to slowly turn towards Trapinch and Riolu.

"Okay, I know Riolu's can speak through Aura, so Riolu please do speak so I can identify and remember your voice for future reference.

Red watched as Riolu silently climbed up onto the bed, placing one paw against Red's chest before a pulse resonating from the same paw rippled throughout its body as the blue fur turned a brilliant shade of red, matching Riolu's eyes, as well as his own, the black becoming more highlighted and saving Riolu form being entirely red, balancing it out.

' _Hello Trainer-Friend Red. My name is Riolu, and I too would prefer to keep my own name. In the event that you're wondering what just transpired, I formed an aura bond with you and my fur resonated to match your own aura's color._ ' Riolu stared at him, his eyes digging deep into his soul and melting Red's heart.

"Wait, does that mean that the voices earlier, the one that said you wouldn't like a nickname, was you Trapinch?" Red asked, turning towards the Pokemon as it nodded.

"Okay then. I have no idea in any way how I'm understanding you, but I can just hope that I'm not dreaming." Red responded, leaning back in his bed as Riolu sat down next to him for a minute, frowning.

"Something wrong Riolu?" Red asked, noticing the distinct frown as Riolu sent over a stream of random thoughts instead of replying.

' _Nothing wrong friend-trainer. I am simply thinking off things, of how to best combat friend-partner Hurycayn's weakness to water. Aura manipulation will take a lot of skill, and strength none of use would have access to unless we suddenly evolved, twice in the case of my friend-partner's, to learn for Pokemon unlike me.'_ With these thoughts Riolu curled up in his basket and drifted off to sleep, the others following suite as Red lay in bed, shifting his uncomfortable arm until he fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning…

Red woke up, waiting for a moment for Riolu who was already awake before going for a walk. Evidently Trapinch and Hurycayn weren't going to wake up anytime soon.

Upon returning a while later, Red entered the house, his Pokemon walking around as he went to the fridge and pulled out some food for all three of them, sitting and eating while watching them eat, which was twice as damningly cute now because there were three of them. He finished his own meal, putting the dishes in the dishwasher after rinsing them and sitting on the couch, flipping the through channels as he heard his phone buzz.

Red skimmed through a message from Serena, his heart pumping furiously as he tried to process the words on his screen.

'Dear Red, how've you been? GUESS WHAT! I'M ENGAGED! Obviously I'm not going to get married right now, but I'm engaged! Please come attend the wedding whenever it is!' it went, causing Red's heart to rise to this throat. He could literally hear the blood flow in his ears, as though he was holding a seashell to his ear, running fast with a dull sound.

He closed the text, staring vacantly at his phone for a minute before he started thinking again, typing out a quick message.

'Hey. It's Red. Do you want to meet up sometime?' He texted Elesa, waiting for the reply as the case on his phablet carried the vibrations to his hand.

'Sure, why don't you come over right now if you're free?' the message read, Red's mind racing.

He walked up to the redone manor next to his, ringing the doorbell and waiting as he listened to the light footsteps of someone running to the door. It opened inwards and standing behind it was the same girl from the previous day; Elesa.

"Hi." Red greeted her quietly, raising his free hand, the other one fixed in place by the cast as he waved slightly.

"Hi, why don't you come in?" she asked, stepping aside and gesturing for him to walk in, which he did, waiting as she led him to the lounge, sitting down opposite him.

"So your arm broke?" she asked, staring at it for a moment.

Red nodded in reply, waiting as the conversation slowly started up again.

* * *

Three weeks later…

Red stretched his arms out, finally free of the cast and ready to test his arm out to make sure it was fine. He raised both arms, diving from the edge back into the reservoir/pool as he plunged deep underwater, pulling himself up to the surface with a few strokes and pushing off towards the gates, a good hundred meters across the semicircular pool to where Elesa was sitting on a deck chair, reading a book after having stepped out of the water herself.

He moved out of the water, picking up his towel and drying himself off as he sat down next to Elesa, peering over the page to see the book, finding it to be the new novel the head of the ranger union, Alfa Hyrax, had written upon board requests, about his time in Ranger School and how it changed him to encourage others to become rangers.

"So, when are you setting off?" Elesa asked, her smile fading slightly.

"Tomorrow. I would have set off today but my mother wants me in town for my birthday." Red shrugged, drying his hair out and reaching for his phone.

"Wait, it's your birthday today!? Are you even planning on celebrating?" Elesa asked, dropping the book and turning towards him.

"Not really." Red replied, checking the time.

"Okay then. August 8th. Red, when do you think you'd arrive in Vermillion City if you set off tomorrow?" Elesa asked, a slight red tinge barely visible on her cheeks.

"Somewhere between the twenty-ninth of September and the fourth of October. Why?" Red replied, turning towards her and staring at her as she blushed slightly more, looking down for a moment before turning towards him again.

"I'm going to get my Trainer's license by the twentieth of September, and I'm going to train my pet Deino. I was wondering if I could meet up with and travel with you?" she blushed a deep shade of crimson at the last sentence, taking Red by surprise as his mind kicked into fourth gear.

After a minute of consideration, he finally decided upon a reply.

"Sure." He uttered the words as Elesa stood up and hugged him, before leaving the reservoir area to head off to her house in a hurry.

Red turned back and stared off into the distance, watching the sun rise higher in the sky. He picked up his clothes and changed back, setting off at a steady pace for his house and going to his room to plan for the next day.

Later in the evening, when he finally emerged from his room, he could hear a series of sharp knocks on the door as he descended the staircase, walking down to the door.

He opened it to find Elesa standing there with a cake in her hands, fresh with eighteen candles in it and a sticky red frosting covering it. He stepped back wordlessly as Elesa walked in, setting the cake down on the counter in front of his mother, turning towards him and wiping the smidgeon of frosting next to her lips off.

"Happy Birthday." She smiled, leaning over and hugging him again.

"I'll admit, I didn't expect this." Red laughed as his mother lit the candles, pulling a cake knife out of a drawer to cut it.

* * *

10th August; 10:00 A.M…

Red walked out of the Pokemon center, all three of his Pokemon contained inside their pokeballs for the time being as he walked swiftly, making his way towards the entrance to Viridian Forest. Red walked forwards through the empty streets of Viridian, past the sign stating that the Viridian City Gym Leader was out for a month and another stating that his substituting trainer was at home for a week with a broken leg.

Around half an hour later Red reached the city limits, where sitting by the gates was a nurse with a table and a few dozen kit like bags.

"Trainer Card please." The nurse stated dully as Red reached in his pocket, pulling his trainer card out as the nurse took it, scanning it and then handing him and his card back.

"What's in this?" Red asked, raising an eyebrow as he unbuckled it.

"It's a basic survival kit which is supposed to be given to all trainers old enough to be legally allowed to cross through dangerous area's such as the forest. It contains four to eight days of rations depending on body size, one hunting knife, grappling cord, and a few basic trapping items. We sit at the entrances to all areas like this and give these out to trainers who don't have them. League rules." The nurse explained as Red rifled through it, examining the contents to find everything he had listed in it along with half a gallon of water and some basic medicinal supplies.

Wordlessly, Red nodded, moving to a side and rearranging his bags a little bit, strapping the knife to his leg and checking the time. It was nearly eleven when he finally walked down the short road to the forest's edge, entering and immediately feeling the cold air inside.

Above him was a canopy of trees so thick that it was as dark as sunset the entire time, the chill spreading throughout his body slowly as he released Hurycayn to sit on his neck and keep him warm, as well as Riolu and Trapinch. To walk alongside him and build up stamina, the three Pokemon taking turns on his shoulder. Red walked for a few hours, following the trails of string set up by the league from tree to tree, evident in the weak light.

After a short lunch he continued on, encountering the first person he was to meet in Viridian Forest half an hour later. A young bug catcher was sitting in a tree, using binoculars to scope out the area around him, a camera hanging from his neck.

Red watched as the boy put away his binoculars, jumping off the tree and landing on the ground safely, taking of his hat and revealing himself to be a girl. She stood in front of him, standing straight and brushing herself off before looking at him.

"Hello." She greeted, reaching for her net as Red's Pokemon defensively moved closer to him.

"Hi." Red responded, reaching for one of his pokeballs before remembering that all his Pokemon were already out with him.

"I'm not going to accept any challenge from you for two reasons. One you have a Charmander, and two my own Pokemon are all in cocoon stages of evolution right now." The girl remarked, examining him and turning around before continuing to speak. "And as a veteran bug catcher, I'm going to give you a word of advice. This is the time of the year when Scyther from Johto and Beedrill from Kanto engage in wars in every forest in Indigo to claim territory for a year. Keep a watch out. The Scyther always win in Johto even when they're outnumbered eleven to five hundred, but in Indigo the sheer number of Beedrill barely keeps the Scyther at bay. This year however, the Beedrill population has gone down for some reason. Good luck getting through the forest."

With that utterly confusing message, the girl walked away, tucking her hair under her huge hat once more and fading into the distance as a slight haze started to set in.

Red sighed, walking on and making his way through the darkening forest as the haze slowly settled in, continuing to remain in place, not moving one inch, instead slowly thickening. By evening, Red had covered a fair amount of distance, around nineteen miles and was tired, but not too much.

He found himself in a clearing, a backpack, two duffel bags and three bedrolls already set down in various places there. He looked around, judging whether it was safe to go further and find a place to himself or not, deciding that it wasn't with a quick word from his Pokemon. He unrolled his sleeping bag, lying down on it and looking around him.

Viridian Forest was famous for many reasons, one of them being that I was thick throughout, starting maybe a few kilometers from the borders, and for a forest over a hundred and ninety miles across, that was a really big area. Most forests slowly thickened towards the inside, but Viridian was just thick form the get go.

Red coughed a few times, the now darkish haze slightly unsettling. He looked around once more, taking out some of the trapping equipment from his new kit and setting one up around him, before conferring with his Pokemon.

"Okay guys, the first gym is in Pewter City which should be another ten days from here at a steady pace. What we'll do is keep moving, and we'll go straight through. No going around the edges because that'll just take us twice the time. Now let's check your levels from that training we did back in Pallet and the few wild Pokemon we fought earlier." Red suggested, pulling his phone out and opening up Professor Oak's Pokedex's scanner mode, first pointing it at Hurycayn, then Riolu and finally Trapinch, waiting for their levels to show up.

"Hurycayn, you're level twelve, Riolu and Trapinch, you're both level eleven." Red read out, closing his phone as Riolu looked around worriedly, shutting its eyes for a moment.

' _Trainer-Friend Red, this is not a haze, or fog. Those I would be able to see through using aura. This seems like smoke, but not natural smoke. Something is generating this. And it's slowly getting denser. Soon it will not be safe to breath_.' Riolu explained worriedly, opening its eyes and passing one glowing red paw over its mouth, covering its mouth and nose with a glowing red layer of aura, before walking up to Trapinch and Red and doing the same.

"What about Hurycayn?" Red asked, examining the glowing layer of aura over his own mouth in the reflection of his phone screen.

Red caught a snatch of the hazy voice saying something about breathing fire and smoke, getting the gist and laughing for a second before settling into his sleeping bag and going to sleep.

* * *

The next morning…

Red woke up to find the bags and bedrolls gone, and a thicker layer of smoke than the previous night settled in on the forest. Nothing had gotten ensnared in his trap though there was a feather in it. He woke his Pokemon up, dismantling the trap and packing it away as he took out some ready to eat food for the four of them, eating and setting off.

The forest was dead silent, wild Pokemon passing in his direction and running after a short battle most of the time. They all seemed to be running towards something. The day passed mainly uneventfully, with one short battle against a Rattata, until evening.

Red was walking straight on, following the same trail of string marked to go through the center of the forest as he made his way forward, until he entered a clearing… full of nests…. Full of Pidgey… with one gigantic Pidgeotto sitting in the center.

It looked up at him, staring at him dead on and examining him, keen to know what he was doing here. Then it attacked. Time seemed to slow down as Red watched the bird leap into the air and barrel straight towards him, moving out of the way as Hurycayn spat an ember at it, clipping its right wing.

"Hurycayn! Ember stream! Riolu, Aura Spheres! Trapinch, use Dragon Breath! If we can beat this thing, we should really get some serious training!" Red shouted, taking his phone out and scanning the avian as it flew around, trying to get past the barrage of attacks his Pokemon were putting forward.

"Pidgeotto, male, level twenty!" Red read out to himself as his Pokemon held the avian at bay, working together to keep it in the skies and away from them. "Okay guys, switch, Hurycayn, try using dragon breath like we were working on earlier! Trapinch, let's try dark pulse out! Riolu, you stick to this, but let it through with an attack, dodge and use counter!"

All three of his Pokemon immediately shifted, Trapinch slowly forming an orb of dark energy, firing it off once it was ready to clip Pidgeotto on the tail, Charmander spitting out a weak stream of bluish black flames, missing Pidgeotto as the bird Pokemon dove down and attacked Riolu, who was waiting for it, moving to one side, grabbing Pidgeotto and using counter by swinging it around using its own momentum and slamming it into the ground before leaping over it and throwing an aura coated fist at it, hitting it and pushing it into the ground ever so slightly as Hurycayn walked over, readying another bluish black ball of flames in his mouth and extending it into a stream of flames, hitting Pidgeotto and knocking it out.

"Great job guys, let's just get it into a pokeball now." Red suggested, rifling through his bag and failing to find one.

"You've got to be kidding me." Red deadpanned, having forgotten to buy any more pokeballs before he left again, sighing and walking away with his Pokemon, the layer of aura over his mouth, filtering out the smoke so he could breath as it started to get even denser, finding a relatively safe place to sleep (With traps around him naturally) an setting down for the night.

The next morning, after an hour of walking, Red picked Riolu off of his shoulder and put him on the ground, looking at all three of his Pokemon as he spoke.

"Okay, guys, I want you all to work on one new move or one weak move each today while we move. Hurycayn, you've gotten dragon breath down for the most part, so let's get started on something a little less basic. I want you to try and learn metal claw. What you're going to have to do, I have no idea, but we'll figure something out while we walk, and we'll make it work, hopefully by Pewter City. In any case, evolution should help you out with that, and you're around level fourteen now. Riolu, I want you to work on Bullet Punch and Force Palm, which will be easier for you because you have both types naturally. Bullet Punch is all about speed, the strength being packed into the steel typing. Force Palm is about exertion. So practice those on rocks. Same goes for you Hurycayn." Red explained, looking at Trapinch.

"Okay, Trapinch. Your move pool is extremely limited until you evolve, but we're going to work on it none the less. What you can learn now that you don't already know is Earthquake. We need to work on that because you don't have much range for your ranged attacks." Red explained as they set off again from their stop, moving forward and into the deeper parts of the forest. As they passed the sixty mile mark, they finally chanced upon a lake in the middle of the forest, allowing Red and his Pokemon to clean up a little bit before stopping for a while to train.

Hurycayn was sitting by a rock, repeatedly scratching it, his claws flickering with a faint silver glow as he slowly made tiny marks in the rock, gouging out bits and pieces to master the new move. Trapinch was on top of a few rocks, practicing on them so the earthquake wouldn't hit the others. Riolu however, was the most devoted of the bunch. He wasn't just practicing one of the two moves at a time, he was practicing one with each fist on a huge boulder about twice Red's height.

One arm was glowing silver, and the other just radiating energy as he slammed both arms into the rock repeatedly, working on attributes of each before switching to Bullet Punch and working with both hands on a barrage.

* * *

Viridian Forest day seven, in the deepest part of the forest.

Red stumbled over a root, using Hurycayn's light to see where he was going as Riolu finally stopped them, noting something of its own.

'Trainer-Friend Red, I sense powerful presences ahead. It would be best to recall Hurycayn and Trapinch, for I can see and I will help you to see for now as well.' Riolu spoke worriedly, raising one arm to Red and passing a surge of aura internally into Red.

Red could feel it kick start what he assumed was his own aura, giving it a much needed boost for him to understand how to use it as he closed his eyes, another spectrum visible to him, where everything was outlined clearly, and a darkish layer had set over everything. All three of his Pokemon stood out amidst this, glowing brightly with their own auras, Hurycayn's tail as bright as the sun, being a physical manifestation of aura.

Red nodded, recalling Hurycayn and Trapinch as Riolu instructed him on how to construct a sphere out of aura for self-defense, a weak one forming in Red's right hand before they continued onwards. Riolu stopping him again after a hundred yards and telling him to climb up a tree at the edge of a clearing they were near.

Once up in the tree itself, Red sat contentedly, watching what was taking place as slowly, forms glowing bright with their own life force in his vision, stepped out of the trees. Hundreds and hundreds of Beedrill. The girl had been wrong, their population hadn't diminished, rather it had increased tenfold. Red opened his eyes, there being no smoke in the clearing, watching as they settled into the clearing, waiting for something.

Riolu closed Red's eyelids for him, allowing him to keep track of what was happening as it started. Ten Scyther appeared like blurs out of the trees, striking hard into the Beedrill's formed lines of defense as a red blur shot out of the woods, suddenly slaying twenty Beedrill with one hit and knocking others away with a single pincer, each strike taking down dozens of the opposing bug types, single handedly wiping them out, his companions taking care of those that escaped; a Scizor.

Red watched in awe as wave after wave of Beedrill appeared from the woods, falling victim to the leader of the mantis Pokemon as finally a formation of around a hundred Beedrill circled around Scizor in the air. The red mantis raised its pincers forward, the marks on them eerily resembling eyes as smoke drew inwards, collecting from all parts of the forest and condensing around the Pokemon in the air, swirling into a storm, leaving the Beedrill helpless as the Scizor took them all out with a single vacuum wave.

Red was left at a loss for words as the smoke storm swirled around Scizor, seemingly increasing its strength as it's vent like wings buzzed momentarily, absorbing all the smoke and causing it's armor to shine as slowly, cuts and scratches on the nigh impenetrable armor were healed. Then the branch under Red broke and he plummeted downwards, landing on the floor ten feet below and staring as a Scyther lunged forward at him, blade raised, when one of his pokeballs flashed and Hurycayn appeared in front of the Scyther, keeping the blade at bay with a metal claw, both Pokemon putting everything they had into the attack as Red scrambled back, readying a sphere of aura slowly as light enveloped Hurycayn, particles of white energy diffusing from Hurycayn's glowing form until there was nothing left, and then swirling around in a vortex and collapsing in upon themselves after multiplying, leaving a Charmeleon standing where the young Charmander had been, overpowering the plain blade and knocking the Scyther back as Red held the sphere in his hand, ready in case any of the other's decided to attack.

The Scizor approached, examining Hurycayn's stance and the sphere in Red's hand.

' _Why… devoted...?_ ' He heard a voice utter, the speech mangled in his hearing. as Scizor tilted its head and stared at Hurycayn.

' _Red… volcanic eruption… raised me…_ ' a long string of speech spewed from Hurycayn's mouth, barely understandable in his snarling fury to Red, the fire lizard daring the Scizor to strike as Red secretively scanned it.

"Level seventy-two." Red whispered to himself as the Scizor turned towards him, raising one pincer and staring at him.

' _… Next time… not the same._ '

* * *

Later in the same clearing…

' _Brother, how did the human understand you_?" a young Scyther asked, leaning against a tree and looking questioningly at his older brother, the Scizor.

Scizor looked at his younger brothers, examining them, his pincers seeming sentient at the time before he spoke. ' _Young ones, you have not yet been educated in the ways of oaths yet. And so I will teach you. In olden times, clans of humans used to make blood oaths with clans of Pokemon, sometimes on rare occasions with the entire type. This entailed the ability to understand that clan. However he is not one of those clans who swore an oath to the Scizor clan, what they call a species. I do not understand how he himself understood us of all Pokemon, but I recall this has happened once before. When I was just a hatchling myself, maybe eight decades ago, deep in near Mount Silver. Maybe someday we will understand._ '


	3. Rocket

**Chapter 3: Rocket**

 **A/N: So…. My sincerest apologies for being this off track with the chapter…. This [School] Year has been inexplicably busy for me and I simply haven't been able to focus, and when I got the plot under control, I barely had time to write. I have to say that I'm going to not write in first person, I tried it and it turned out horribly… So I'm going to stick to my tested and tried style of writing, and I hope you all enjoy this story. I have one other thing to say which is that I'll try to reply to those reviews by people with proper accounts. Because Guest Reviews, well they tend to take up to days [a friend once posted one and told me the next day] to appear on the story. Not that I mind them in the least. I really would love reviews as a whole. Any reviews from this day onwards [5** **th** **of June 2016], I will do my best to remember to reply to. Side note…. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ THE PROLOGUE OF MY NEW STORY WAYFARER! The amount of views it's garnered since I released it back in April I think is depressing. It explains how Black was put into a coma. The story will start from the moment he wakes up, and as the summary dictates, finds himself once more a wayfarer. In any case, holidays now, so I can write peacefully without getting grilled for why I'm sitting in front of my computer instead of studying. And so begins the next chapter of Red – The Road to Champion.**

* * *

Four Days after the encounter in the forest…

Red stepped out of the thicket, utterly sick of the forestry at this point, feeling with his hands to see if he would crash into anything. He raised his leg to avoid an overgrown root, going to low and tripping, crashing face first into the ground. He swore loudly, startling a nearby Caterpie as he rose. Grumbling to himself he picked at his belt, reaching for the pokeball that contained Hurycayn and releasing the Charmeleon in front of him, damning the fire hazard. He had had enough. His torch had died two days ago, and he wanted to be able to see.

He could hear the voice again vaguely, able to make out a request for the time.

"It's around 3:30 p.m. Hurycayn if that's you nod." Red stared at the orange lizard, or proto dragon, discerning a nod in the light of its tail. "Please don't try and direct me again. I checked the Pokedex entry on you. Until you're a Charizard, you constantly smell smoke in your nostrils from uncontrollable exhaust fumes. Or whenever you breathe. Either way really, for now guidance isn't really your forte."

Hurycayn feigned a growl, swatting his leg playfully and walking along with him as he forged his own way through the woods, using the hunting knife he had gotten with his survival kit to clear branches, keeping an eye on Hurycayn's tail.

A few hours later he pressed through the final gap in the trees and burst into a clearing lit with the evening sun. Opposite him was a rest house, which marked the exit or entrance of Viridian Forest. Red had never before been so glad to see the symbol of the Pokemon Rangers, engraved in the stone walls above the door.

He stumbled into the establishment, his Charmeleon behind him as he made his way to a vending machine, subconsciously on the lookout in case anyone tried to pull anything on him. Trust was a hard forged item, and broke more easily than glass. He slipped a large coin into the machine, pulling out a bottle of water and a soda, drinking the latter and handing the former to Charmeleon, who clawed open the bottle and drained half of it immediately. Red took the remainder from him, emptying it into his own water bottle and tossing the plastic one in a recycling bin. He walked out of the building through the massive double doors on the other side of the room, emerging onto a paved stone brick path tinted orange by the evening sun.

He took a deep breath, the air fresh and crisp, before walking on. For another hour he continued on down the winding path before he reached what seemed to be a landmark of sorts. He was standing between a log cabin and a large statue made of stone, a carving of a massive draconic Pokemon Red didn't recognize. It was very furry, to discern from the statue. But the most striking feature was that it had three heads, one in the center, eyes and all, and a small one at the end of each arm, fur covering the eyes, mouths agape. It hide was flecked with a second color, which one Red was clueless about since the entire statue was grey stone. It seemed as though the artist had managed to capture the creature mid flights, about to snap up its prey.

His eyes flitted to the bottom of the statue, finding no pedestal or engraving anywhere on it. The only thing he could see on it was a large symbol, a shield with a sword stowed behind it and an illegible letter on it. Red shifted uncomfortably, getting bad vibes from the statue and moved away, gesturing for Hurycayn to follow.

All of a sudden he found himself being pulled down to the ground by an invisible weight, until he was flat against it, able to see shadows forming around him as an all-encompassing presence pressed onto his mind, two emotions emanating from it in waves. First an insatiable hunger, both literally, and a thirst for blood. And secondly rage without any semblance of sanity. Red couldn't tell what was happening but he could feel a chill in his bones, something draining all the energy from them. He tried to cry out for help, only to release a weak guttural cry that he realized was barely audible. Then finally he felt the pressure relent and lost consciousness.

* * *

Red woke up to see the sun shining through a window in the log cabin he had noticed earlier, a small blanket over him and an old man sitting opposite him. His skin was deeply tanned, if not dark naturally, and his grey eyes were as cold and hard as the stone of the streets. His beard was snow white and was cut short, barely covering his chin. He had a fedora pulled over a bald head and sat next to a closed great ball.

"Who are you, where am I and what happened?" Red asked, shifting into a sitting position as he set aside the blanket, seeing Hurycayn conscious and sitting buy a crackling hearth.

"I am Ingrid. Yes my name is actually Ingrid before you ask." The old man grimaced, as though in pain from an old wound. "You're in the log cabin opposite the statue. As for what happened, that'll take a while longer. Have a cup of cocoa and listen."

He slid a steaming white cup across the table in front of him to Red, sipped from his own and shifted in his chair.

"It begins with a bit of a tale really. Listen quietly. I'm not going to repeat myself here. In the olden days, before technology allowed mining to be conducted on a mass scale and Pokemon trainers were uncommon, Pewter was the biggest Military Force in Kanto. I say the biggest mind you, not the most powerful. They're infantry was feared across the land. But they never laid siege to anyone unless absolutely necessary. What they were really famous for were their defenses. As you'll continue on to Pewter if you're going there, because you don't look like you're from around here, you'll see. The city was built in a natural hard plain between the stone hills. Overtime, the city transformed that ring of hills into a wall, plateaus on the inside ranging in height. The gym is visible over the walls, and the ground near the walls is much higher, but the roads are sunken and the buildings high. Defense. No one has ever knocked down Pewter's gates, let alone taken the city." Red sipped the cocoa slowly, trying to avoid singing his tongue.

"But there was one man who nearly destroyed the city six hundred years ago. The only reason he was not recorded in history is because he was chased out of the city and where the gym leader slew him. He destroyed most of the city, and set the remainder on fire. All with one Pokemon. The one out there… We don't know what it is, and if anyone in the city does know it'll be the gym leader."

"Why do you have a monument of the Pokemon that did that outside the city?" Red asked, interrupting without thinking.

"It's not a monument. That's the actual thing. No one could slay it. But the gym leader in a flurry managed to seal it in stone. It's still alive to this day. What you felt was its energy, pressing you down to absorb into its shadowy existence and use as energy. It's always there trying to break free. I froze it over again. That'll maim it for another few months maybe. I live here by my own will to keep it at bay. The name of this monster was Hurricane, as its master beckoned it." What you felt was its energy, pressing you down to absorb into its shadowy existence and use as energy. It's always there trying to break free. I froze it over again. That'll maim it for another few months maybe. I live here by my own will to keep it at bay. The name of this monster was Hurricane, as its master beckoned it." What you felt was its energy, pressing you down to absorb into its shadowy existence and use as energy. It's always there trying to break free. I froze it over again. That'll maim it for another few months maybe. I live here by my own will to keep it at bay. The name of this monster was Hurricane, as its master beckoned it." The old man finished, Red noticing his own Charmeleon visibly cringe.

"Why did that siege let's call it, occur?" Red asked, confused as to why one man, powerful though he was, would try and raze a city to the ground.

"Simply because he could. Records say the same man met with the gym leader and demanded the city be turned over to him, and upon Byron's refusal, he left, and returned a week later with his beast." The man shrugged, taking Red's now empty mug.

"Thank you for the tale, saving my life and the cocoa, but if you don't mind, I'll be on my way." Red stood up stiffly, Hurycayn hurrying to hi side. It worried him who this man was whose Pokemon could hold such a creature at bay and had tasked himself with living in seclusion to guard it.

"Oh one more thing kid… Your Charmeleon wants to cast off his name." This time Red could see a sparkle in his eyes. His own wide, he nodded uncertainly and stepped out of the house quickly, scooping up Hurycayn and breaking into a sprint.

He ran until he felt he was safe, for about twenty minutes, panting heavily by the end of it. Finally, he sat down, letting go of Hurycayn and sitting down.

"Was that man actually able to see what you were feeling? And I can understand why you'd want to cast aside that name now." Red laughed sheepishly, still worried about who the man was.

Hurycayn nodded twice, staring at him with a wistful look in his eyes.

"I guess then from this day forward, you're Charmeleon, and Charizard when you evolve. Let's get back on the move. It's around ten thirty right now." Charmeleon nodded happily as Red continued on, following him.

Soon Red could see what Ingrid, if that really was his name, had been talking about. The city was ringed with a wall around twenty meters high with sections of the hills previously surrounding the city protruding from it like buttresses. The walls themselves were the craftsmanship of master stone masons, each stone brick carved perfectly, the turrets shaped well to provide both a good vantage point for archers, with alcoves designed to shield them should they be attacked. He could see the city gates down the road and twenty minutes later he was only twenty meters from them. He picked up a loose brick lying in a pile of broken ones near one of the foothills of the hills, examining it. The wall seemed to be made up of bricks which interlocked and even if they hadn't been cemented together, couldn't have been torn apart save by a fighting Pokemon. With the reinforcements he could see and the thickness of the walls it was evident why Pewter was never taken. Standing in front of a massive barred iron gate were twenty guards, guiding people into lines at the two windows in the wall, where people were getting their passports stamped and were being let into or in some cases out of the city.

He walked up, recalling Charmeleon and pulling out his own papers. A six and a half foot tall guard wearing full combat armor and carrying a lance about seven feet long guided him into line to be checked, patting him down and inspecting the contents of his bag before passing him onto the immigration officer. The man behind the window seemed soulless and looked to be working in a mechanical pattern, but that wasn't the case. His eyes were sharp and alert, matching every detail on all his papers and checking all the signs to make sure they were legitimate in seconds in a practiced order before stamping the documents and waving Red in.

Inside it didn't seem like the fortress it looked like from the outside. He walked down a low slope to the main roads, which were sunken below the rim, as was most of the city, all the streets perfectly paved and kempt, and people walking around and chatting with each other, playing with their Pokemon. The buildings were low and flat, increasing in overall height towards the northwest quarter of the city. Save one building with a bright red tiled roof. Red headed straight to what was evidently the Pokemon center only to find himself in a building so shockingly different from Viridian City's Pokemon center he wouldn't have believed it was one unless he had read the sign outside and seen the red roof, the only one of its kind in the city.

The floor was polished marble, white flecked with veins of gold, and the roof high arched slightly towards the center, which was a massive skylight. Pillars of chiseled white marble supported it, flecked with silvery dots and particles. The walls on each side were somewhat rough black slate, sanded to some extent, with water streaming down their surfaces from cavities in the roof down to rimmed cavities in the floors, undoubtedly carrying the water back up to the top. The central hall he was in was decorated with couches arranged in enclosures in the corners, the path through the center open and sectioned desks for the public telephones on either side of the nurses' counter at the back. The nurses' counter was just as grand as the rest of the building, the same marble as the floor with three quarters of the same pillars ringing the corners, and dull grey slate covering their tops.

He made his way to the counter, all the while examining the building and the massive doors and corridors leading off from the room.

"Surprised at the design? This used to be the mass house used by the senate to entertain guests. As a result, it's massive, lavish, and also connected to the bath houses." The nurse behind the counter smiled, gesturing towards a set of massive granite doors operated mechanically by two bellhops on duty. "Now what can I do you for today?"

She was a young woman of about twenty one with long brown hair and sparkling gold eyes, pale skin and a smile that eased any weary traveler's nerves. Red simply examined her mechanically, noting the name tag that read Cindy before speaking.

"I'd like a room for the night please, one person." He asked, pulling out his trainer ID and handing it to her. She scanned the card, typing away rapidly, before handing it back to Red along with a key and a warm smile.

"Mr. Lawson, you're in room three six one. Single room. Feel free to explore the Pokemon center except for rooms that say employees only." She informed him, waiting in case he had anything else to say.

"Yeah, can you check up these three?" He unclipped his pokeballs from his belt, handing them over to her and walking off with the key as she nodded, heading for his room to collapse on his bed for a while.

The room was lavish. She hadn't been wrong. The place was massive. Every corner revealed more corridors, the walls the same rough slate with glowing water. Red touched the water along one wall, and it was water, cold and clear. He found his way to his room after a good ten minutes of getting lost in the corridors, a lavish room with white walls decorated with gold vines and paintings. It wasn't particularly big, but nor was it small. There was a single twin bed in the room, with two couches and a coffee table by a TV. The door to the attached bathroom was in the corridor entrance to the room, and the bathroom itself was small and designed to be pretty. Its floor was faux patterned wood paneling and the theme was black and brown. The floor and all other surfaces made of the fake wood were a rich, dark reddish brown and the countertops and the bathtub were made of black marble, not to mention the floor of the shower.

Red set his pack down, immediately aware of the reprieve from the pressure on his shoulders, resting only for a moment before heading out of the room to get lost in the maze of corridors once more. He stepped out of the door, looking first to the right, where he had come from originally, seeing a point where three corridors and massive staircase met. He knew he would have to go down two floors anyway so he made a beeline for the staircase, going down immediately and going downstairs to see that he had been stupid to get lost. The corridor in front of him literally opened into the lobby.

He sighed, walking down it, tracing a line through the water with one hand. The lobby wasn't particularly full, and the nurses weren't that busy either. He walked to the counter and handed over his ID card, getting it back a minute later with his three pokeballs and a report on each of his Pokemon.

He walked over to the couch, scanning the reports to find all three fine, each dinged up a bit from their stay in the forest, Charmeleon more so from their recent encounter, but nothing a few minutes of healing serum couldn't fix. He picked at his belt, latching all three of them onto his belt and pulling out his phone. Now that he finally had reception it was probably best to call his mother. He keyed in the number from memory, waiting as the phone rang on the other end. Once, twice, thrice…. Six times… then his mother picked up the phone from the other end.

"Oh good morning Red honey! Sorry I was just baking a cake to mail you!" With his mother he could never tell whether or not she was joking, her nature was just that way.

"Um… I think it would be stale by the time it got to me. And besides, I'm never in one place for more than a few days. And the messenger would have to get through Viridian Forest. That place is a nightmare to navigate!" Red shuddered, wording his reply so that if she was actually going to send him a cake, he didn't mess up and make her mad.

"Don't be silly! I'm not going to mail you a cake! The neighbors are coming over for tea today so I thought I'd bake one. How are you? How bad was the forest?" she asked, her tone immediately becoming worried.

"I'm fine. The forest wasn't bad in itself. Nothing Charmeleon couldn't burn or that the others couldn't handle, but it's just a nightmare to navigate unless you're marking trees. And with the amount of marks on the trees marking them in a way that's noticeable has become a challenge of its own." Red sighed, recalling how he had wound up in the same clearing seven times before he had managed to get going in the right direction. "In any case, I'm in Pewter City now, how long for I don't know. I'll take on the gym, rest for half a day, train a bit and head off. I want to keep to a tight schedule."

"Seriously Red take a break sometime!" his mother laughed down the line. "Call me some other time soon honey!"

And with that she cut the call. Red slipped the phone back into his pocket, smiling as he walked out the doors of the Pokemon center and into the city's streets. He walked down the paved sidewalks aimlessly, passing by a few gardens raised a foot or two above the road and stopping to smell the flowers. He could see the soldiers on the wall from where he was standing, rifles glimmering in the sun, ready to make it rain lead.

He wandered around the city, passing by dozens of statues, wondering if each was like the one outside, trapping some threat in it. Nonetheless he continued on until he reached a more open part of the city set in a plaza amidst multiple gardens. A farmer's market had been set up in the area and people were milling around, looking at flowers or odd stalls and buying produce and homemade products that those few farmers who were well paid to grow crops on the little fertile land in Pewter were offering. Jars of homemade honey and fresh loaves of bread lines the racks behind the stalls, aged cider and other things like candy apples amongst the mix.

All of a sudden dozens of mothers did their best to clamp their hands over their children's ears as a symphony of colorful oaths were spat into the air by several angry farmers, some of them chasing something through the crowds, whatever it was knocking people over.

Red got in line as the ruckus died down, waiting his turn and buying a candy apple and a two bottles of cider. Charmeleon had in his early stages drank a bit of cider one night in the garden and they had later discovered that it made him very flatulent, but at the upper end, which released fire. Glittering golden and green fire, probably because of the apples used to brew the cider.

He bit into the candy apple, watching carefully as a man in a white suit with bluish green hair brushed back in a sleek way walked up to one of the grumbling farmers and began to talk to him, men wearing black work suits, most likely his subordinates, standing around him. This man looked like an executive at a bank or a major law firm or something. It piqued Red's interest as to what he was doing handing a business card to the farmers.

Red walked closer quietly through the crowds, wanting to hear what they were saying. He managed to get as close as the next stall and catch some of their conversation.

"You've been plagues by this pest before and you'll be plagued by it again and many others as well. They'll harm your businesses. We're willing to get rid of them for you, forever, for a price. Just call us along whenever one comes up." The man in the white suit was saying, and Red could tell that the farmers were murmuring amongst themselves. Then the oldest one spoke up.

"Y'all folks got a good service, but we don't have the spare money to expand our farms like we needed to, hell forget profit, we're going into losses with this thrice damned pest! None of us have any money to spare! We have mouths to feed, bellies to fill at home! Besides, what could a bank manager like you want with a pest like that?" he grumbled, shooting him a piercing glare.

"I am not a bank manager good sir. My business is none of your concern. Rest assured it is nothing illegal. Whilst I managed the finance department of my corporation, I do need Pokemon of all sorts to provide for the rest of the corporation. You say you cannot spare the money at the moment. Very well. My boss is very eager for each and every Pokemon we can get our hands on, so I'll leave you our card." The man in the white suit pulled a business card out of his pocket again and handed it to the farmer, who took it and simply held it there in the air, watching the man walk off with his underlings.

Red decided then that he should ask what the whole mess was about and stepped forward.

"Sir… I'm a trainer passing by through here, and I wanted to know what Pokemon was causing you trouble, if you could tell me." Red greeted the man, extending a hand. The farmer chewed on the edge of his pipe, eying his pokeballs before swallowing and replying.

"The name's Tyson. These here are some of my fellow farmers. We till this land as have our families for generations before us. Recently, there's a little pest that's been stealing whenever we set up our market, damaging stalls, stealing products and ruining produce. We went into losses two months ago, and nothing we've tried to catch this little rodent works. It's too damn fast. It's a little yellow rodent, red stripes on the back of its pelt, red spots on its cheeks, always sparking with electricity." He said gruffly, shaking Red's hand.

"Red."

"Well. Hope you're satisfied kid, because a story's all we can give folks now without that little electric mouse spoiling it." He snorted, leaning back and lighting his pipe. Seeing Red's inquisitive look, he continued on. "Every evening once the sun's setting over the walls, we gather round the plaza and tell stories around a bonfire. Tales of great deeds by our ancestors, of sieges to Pewter, of being trapped in the mines. Occasionally wayfarers come and tell theirs, stories of great battles and journeys across Indigo. That's around four today if you want to come." he intoned, holding the man's card to the lit pipe and watching as it caught fire, dropping it to the stone floor and watching it burn to a crisp.

"Run along now kiddo." Red nodded, heading off towards the market, his mind racing automatically. He pulled out his phone, absent mindedly keying the description Tyson had given him into the Pokemon database, or Pokedex Professor Oak had built into it. A few minutes passed as it ran the checks slowly. Finally, as he was sitting down on a bench, drinking a bottle of cider, did the results pop up.

 _Pikachu, the electric rodent. Standing at one foot and three point seven inches, Pikachu is very fast on its feet and nigh impossible to chase in a forest on foot. These Pokemon tend to be playful and stay away from humans for the most part. Those in cities tend to swipe food from open stalls to survive out of their natural habitats. Touching a hostile Pikachu can often result in an electric shock if not paralysis._

Red almost laughed. Of course. To ordinary citizens this thing would be a problem. A pest. Well, he could help them out and help himself out as well. He checked his watch, seeing that it was one already and started off back to the Pokemon Center to eat lunch in the cafeteria. He hoped their food would be as good as their décor, but it was a long shot.

He arrived in the center's massive hall, following the directions to one of two cafeterias and walked over to the buffet counter. Examining it, he took two bowls, filling the first with Macaroni and Cheese, and the second with chicken noodle broth. He took them back to an empty table, sitting down and digging in as if he hadn't eaten in days. To be fair, he had been rationing. He emptied both bowls quickly, releasing his Pokemon to wander around to the Pokemon serving stations whilst he refilled his bowls, draining them once more as his Pokemon ate, finally stopping and washing it all down with the second cider he had bought. Sitting in the cafeteria with Trapinch Riolu and Charmeleon was calming. Simply to be with his friends relaxing was working wonders on the nervous tension that Red had been subconsciously garnering after the incident outside the forest. For some reason the mark on the dragon's flank had left him uneasy.

' _Not hungry anymore… good meal._ ' Red caught snatches of speech, the voice that had been collectively identified as Trapinch's the first time it had spoken up. He looked over at the bug like Pokemon which looked like it was sitting back if something sitting on all its limbs could sit back. He still didn't understand why he could catch snatches of speech from his Pokemon. The only one he could hear and understand clearly was Riolu, the reason he knew, being the aura Pokémon's aura. He leaned forward and scratched the blue Pokémon's head, the little canine like cub radiating happiness. Its fur was back to blue, the red coloring that it had originally taken on proving thus far to be a temporary effect of a Pokemon with not much external contact touching another life force.

' _Friend-Trainer Red….. What awaits us today?"_ The little cub spoke excitedly, full of energy and able to run around all day without breaking a sweat.

"Not much. I want to add a new member to our family; one who by my reckoning is misunderstood. A Pikachu whose had to scavenge for food and steal from farmers. It'll take a bit out of you guys though; from what I hear, this thing's fast." Red opened his phone again, pulling out the picture of Pikachu and laying it down in front of his Pokemon.

' _Any plan?'_ Came the voice from Charmeleon. Red was fairly sure there were words before that but they were indistinct and soft to him, inaudible.

"I honestly don't know. I think maybe luring it in with food is a good strategy though." Red shrugged, anticipating the evening to come. "Let's go see what else there is in this place. It's huge! Stay close though."

Red stood up, brushing himself off and stacking all the dishes on a tray which he promptly places on stack of other trays on a recycling bin. He walked out, his three Pokemon at his heels as he made his way through the center to the entertainment room first. It was a massive room with solid oak doors on the outside, soundproofed from the inside. There were all sorts of games around the room; snooker tables, one cards table, an indoor basketball hoop with half a court built around it, a few arcade games for younger kids like air hockey and racing simulators, and then to the other side of the room, a play area for Pokemon.

He walked over to the far end of the room, checking his Pokemon in by handing in their pokeballs so they could be recalled immediately when he was leaving. The last he saw of them was Riolu jumping onto a climbing net. He walked back across the room to a snooker table, finding four trainers roughly his age standing around it, or in the case of one of the girls, sitting on the edge. One was a boy of around sixteen, with thick black hair held back under a black cap with red stripes, sparkling green eyes and a white jumper that stood out in the colored lighting of the room. His cue was behind his neck, held fast by his arms wrapped behind them. The girl sitting on the edge of the table was the nurse from earlier, the eldest person here, Cindy. The second girl was a small one by figure, barely reaching five four, with brown hair done up in a braid and glittering blue eyes. The last person at the table tossed a disc across the table to the boy with the cue and walked away before Red could get a good look at his face. The only thing he saw was the back of his neck and his spiky brown hair.

"Here to bet or here for a friendly shot or two?" the boy grinned, tipping his hat in the direction of the girl with the brown hair, who departed as well.

"I'd rather not bet if it's all the same to you." Red replied, keeping his head low.

"If we're not betting, how about something I can actually loose at." He grinned again, gesturing at the two racing simulators behind them.

"I meant I'm not here to play. I came to ask a question about the Pichu under you hat." Red remarked, drawing a squeal from the boy's hat, whence from a little, thinner, cuter, smaller version of Pikachu emerged.

The boy's stance stiffened immediately, his eyes guarded.

"I'm trying to catch a Pikachu for myself, one that's behaving like a pest to some local farmers. Can you tell me what might attract them to me?" He asked, noting how the boy's face betrayed clear relief, before he composed himself.

"Probably the smell of food that an electric type eats. Honestly this little guy is always hungry so anything works with him. You might want to ask a nurse what they eat in the wild. Other than that… A large point charge. Or other electric types." He replied, his grin forming again as he whipped the poker cue out from behind his arms, flexible as it seemed.

"That for you would probably be any berry you could find in Viridian Forest or any other forest existing in similar conditions. That's the only place you'll find any Pikachu in Kanto apart from maybe around a power plant, where they would scavenge, and they live off of the forest." Cindy explained, leaning towards him and staring into his eyes intently.

"Thank you." Red turned on his heels and made for the back of the room, collecting his Pokemon from the play area and making his way back out.

He checked his watch, wondering what the time was to find that it was already three fifteen in the afternoon and he would probably have to move fast. He nearly swore. He might not make it before the crowd's gathered, and that would mean another day wasted. He moved out through the automatic doors, breaking free from the mass of trainers he was in the middle of and breaking into a sprint as he ran the distance from the Pokemon Center to the market, making it by three thirty five.

By the time he reached, the lines were longer than ever, everyone buying food to eat while people told their stories around the bonfire. Walking around to the old man he had met earlier, Tyson, he spoke up.

"Excuse me, but I'd like to purchase a bottle of the most thoroughly aged cider you have and a few fresh berries if you have them, anything that might grow in Viridian Forest." He stated, pulling out the coins as the man eyed him suspiciously before accepting the coins with a nod and handing him the a slightly dusty bottle, and a little wooden basket of oran berries.

His plan for the most part was to give everybody a pre-story show. He would give Charmeleon the cider and make his fire golden and green. Why he felt like being flashy even he didn't fully understand, but he knew he wanted to do that. He released his three Pokemon, looking around in case he could see the little Pikachu hiding anywhere.

"Hmmm….. Okay, Charmeleon, drink up." Red began, handing the fire type the bottle, noting that the farmer was staring at him in disbelief. "Riolu, help me look for a Pikachu around here subtly. Once we spot it, I'm going to need you to keep track of it. Trapinch, settle in until we know which direction we're chasing it out of." He nodded at the orange ground type as it crawled off to the rough dirt by the sides of the plaza, drawing pointed fingers and shouts of delight from children all over.

"Once you're done Charmeleon, take one of these berries out and heat the very slowly until your flames change color. I want to give them a show. Then I'll tell you what to do." He continued on as Riolu resolutely scanned the area, carefully examining each bush for even the slightest twitch. Behind them shopkeepers had started to close up their stalls and clear out the area, a few younger ones, hauling firewood out of a cart behind them.

Red stared at Charmeleon, whose flames were slowly lightening in color, from a bright fiery red to a dim yellow, to a sparkly golden. Then slowly, green streaks the color of oak leaves started to form in the stream of flames, eventually taking up a good part of the fire.

"Now crush the berries a little bit, get a bit of juice out of them and heat that until the smell spreads all around. Make it evaporate." He instructed the fire type as Riolu tugged on his leg.

There, sitting in a bush, peeking out for a moment and scanning the crowds of people for fallen food was a Pikachu. It was too busy scanning the crowds to pay attention to the one boy standing in the center of the plaza on his own. At this point the farmers were hauling stones out to the center of the plaza and making a rough ring which they were filling with wood.

"Now or never…." He murmured, turning to see Trapinch positioning itself, having caught sight of the electric mouse. "Charmeleon, toss them into the air!"

The blue berries soaked in their own juice went flying into the air and the little yellow Pokemon flew out of the bushes to steal them, having caught them scent of its favorite food. No wonder it was raiding the stalls, they were the only place it might get them.

Charmeleon spat out a glittering green and gold fireball next to Pikachu, causing it veer of course as the embers crashed to the ground, the colorful lights reflecting off what Red realized was bronzed stone, designed to twinkle in the firelight. He watched as Riolu flew out from behind it, landing at its side and taking up a fighting stance. Red noticed something else plummeting down from the sky and snatched the Oran berries out of the air, already scheming again to avoid a battle.

Trapinch had come from one side and Charmeleon had completed the triangulation of the electric mouse. It standing on all fours in between his Pokemon, the red pouches on its cheeks sparking with electricity as it prepared itself to battle.

Red reached forward slowly, snapping his arms back as a weak tendril of electricity hit him, mildly jolting him. He tried again, this time reaching out with the Oran berries, confusing the Pikachu. It cocked its head to one side and one of its long normally perky ears fell to one side and touched the ground in a classic 'What are you doing?' gesture.

He knelt down and held out the berries to the hesitant creature, waiting as it finally took one and nibbled off the corner, deciding he wasn't so bad. It came and claimed the others as his Pokemon relaxed, sitting down around them.

"Hey little guy? Do you want to come with me?" Red whispered softly, reaching out carefully to scratch it behind one ear, drawing his hand back as sparks flew once more.

Pikachu cocked its head again, confused once more, black eyes staring straight at him.

"These are my friends." He explained, gesturing towards his Pokemon. "Charmeleon, Riolu and Trapinch. I'm a Pokemon trainer. I travel with my friends. You'll always have food with me."

Pikachu made a shrug like gesture, still staring at him.

"I promise I'll take care of you. You'll get stronger with me." Red spoke softly. That seemed to seal the deal. It came up to him and rubbed its fur against his hand, letting loose a few weak sparks that went straight to the ground. Red could see a few marks on its back from the few times farmers had managed to reach it.

"I'm going to catch you in a pokeball now." Red stated as he took an empty pokeball from his belt and touched it to the little electric type's nose. It didn't really try and resist. Smiling, he recalled his other Pokemon, leaving only Charmeleon out.

"Everyone gather around the bonfire!" Tyson called out, giving Red an appreciative nod before walking up to him. "Could you light it with those fancy flames? It'll keep people happy and maybe we can make up for some lost business afterwards then."

Red nodded absent mindedly as he scratched Charmeleon's head, who promptly proceeded to light the bonfire. He had an itching feeling that there was someone behind him, and he was right once more. He turned around to see a man a bit taller than him with short spiky brown hair and tanned skin. His eyes were narrow, and looked like they were half closed, but his body language contradicted them. His crossed arms were muscular and the shirt on his chest slightly strained. A Pokemon that looked like a small boulder with two arms and hands floated next to him.

"You're an interesting trainer kid. I was about to deal with that Pikachu myself. The name's Brock. Feel free to stop by the gym and challenge me while you're here." He nodded in his general direction, sitting down by the fire and recalling his Pokemon as he seemed to drift away into thought.

Soon enough many people had gathered around the bonfire, all the people whom had been milling around earlier and the farmers as well. A few people looked very out of place, one or two businessmen, including the man from earlier that afternoon with the white suit. It was unsettling seeing him sitting there ever so quietly.

Everyone hushed down, a few awed whispers of 'gym leader' running through the crowd as the man whom had introduced himself as Brock took a place right by the fire, facing the crowd. Everyone went dead silent as he began to speak.

"Most of you know me for my position in this city. For those who don't my name is Brock, and I am the gym leader of Pewter City. Today, I'm here to recite a tale to you all that you may have heard before, from different perspectives. The one man siege of Pewter."

The crowd broke into hushed whispers at the mention of the ancient tale of Pewter.

"From the point of view of the gym leader…. My ancestor Byron. It's a tale that's been passed down in my family for generations. For him it began in the heart of Mount Moon." Brock took a deep breath, readying himself to speak for a while.

"About six hundred years ago was the one siege which Pewter would have fallen to, had things gone even a little differently. One man came to Byron and demanded that the city be turned over to him to create his dynasty. Many say this encounter took place in the town hall, or in the gym. But it took place in mount moon."

"Byron had gone there to look into the prospects of sending mining teams into the mountain itself, rather than having it mined from the outside, where the cold and the winds would hinder the process greatly, not to mention that actual task of exposing the material before mining it. He was in the heart of Mount Moon examining a deposit of gold at the time when the tyrant arrived. This man had been deferred to Mount Moon by the Senate, where the gym leader was, and had found his way to the chamber where Byron was with the gold."

"This man spoke to Byron, proclaiming himself as a man named Giovanni, with forces the city could not imagine at his beck and call, right here in the mountain even. Byron laughed and replied that an armed force would not have been permitted to pass through the city walls, and that the Cerulean entrance to the mountain was caved in. Giovanni replied that he did not have any man with him. Then Byron asked how he had an insurmountable force with him, expecting the answer. And it was Pokemon. Byron asked how many. Giovanni replied that he had but two Pokemon with him, sending Byron into peals of laughter."

"When Giovanni demanded that the city be handed over to him to create his domain and give him a base from which he could assert his force over Kanto. Once more Byron laughed in his face. This time however, Giovanni released one of his Pokemon. It was a massive Rhydon, six and half feet tall, horn sharp enough to bore straight through the gold behind Byron as it charged him. Giovanni set this monster to collapse the cave around Byron, trapping him in and departed. Byron knew that Pewter would be besieged, and called out his only Pokemon, a Steelix twenty six feet long. With the aid of his Steelix, he burrowed out of the mountain, creating a small entrance in the northern side which we still use. He found Giovanni to have recalled the Rhydon and was in the process of laying waste to the city with a three headed dragon, its fur midnight black, and its hide deep blue where exposed. Each head was vicious and bloodthirsty, snapping up anything it could reach and burning everything its flames would touch."

"The tales go on to say that Byron alone chased the creature and its master out of the city where he trapped the creature in stone. This is a grave error by the transmitter. Pewter would have fallen had not a dragon rider from Indigo been flying by, and helped Byron before he was maimed. This is why Pewter, which could have seized the Viridian Forest and lived on its own after, did not do so, and joined a unified Indigo years later. Together these two beat down Giovanni and his dragon, Byron chasing it out of the city and through methods lost even to our clan, trapped it in stone, killing it. That is how Pewter survived, and came to be a part of Indigo." Brock finished, pushing a stray lock of hair out of his eye.

"If I may gym leader, there is a part of that story that is wrong, which not even Byron himself could have realized when he told the tale." Everyone turned in shock to see a man who had stood up in the front row of the crowd. It was the man in the white suit with the green-blue hair.

"What no one ever understood was that Byron did not kill the dragon. Giovanni's subordinates appeared after it had been clapped in stone and managed to preserve it somehow, so that it still lived in the statue to this very day." He spoke, fixing Brock's gaze to him.

"Lives to this day you mean, in any case, even if what you say is true, which I can accept." Brock worded his reply carefully, reaching for his belt immediately.

"Lived I say, for it does no more. For you see, my subordinates have freed it from its prison." He smirked, raising a hand in perfect time as a blood curling roar sounded from far off. Then a second one. Then a third, far louder than the previous ones.

Red looked up apprehensively to see the same creature the statue had frozen in time soaring over the city as bullet seamed to vanish in its vicinity. It let out another roar, visibly from the main head as it swooped down on the city, letting loose a stream of black and blue flames.

Red instinctively recalled Charmeleon in the frenzy as all hell broke loose, the world in mass hysteria. He sprinted for cover that wasn't flammable. His eyes widened in horror as the flames started to touch people, screams ringing out in mass hysteria as mothers took their children and ran. He saw the dragon rise to the sky as he sprinted, finding cover beneath a stone bench.

He stayed curled beneath it, for how long, he could not tell, until the roaring stops, the only sound being the crackling of the flames around him. Slowly and carefully he crawled out, seeing what had happened. The area around him was burning, the dragon having settled on the wall by a tall, well-built man in a black suit wearing a mask. Nothing else was discernable about him. By his side was the man in the white suit, and in line behind them over fifty men in the uniforms of their subordinates. Then his voice rang out across the city, demeaning and commanding at the same time. Red saw Brock standing on the head of a massive steel snake about twenty five feet long, its head wide and flat, its jaws capable of grinding anything down to dust, and its body sectioned.

"Ave! Citizens of Pewter! Bear witness today! I have freed my ancestor's Pokemon, and today you have felt but a shred of our power. Today begins our reign on Indigo! You would do well to forget not our name." He spoke, his voice ringing out across the city.

"We, are Rocket."


	4. Sorry

I can't. I give up. I can't think. I can't write. I just can't carry on this story. It's indefinitely on hold. I'm sorry. Hating me for this is completely justified...


End file.
